A

lthough the government prefers that South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi withdraw his libel lawsuit against two Judicial Commission (KY) members, no officials have come forward to mediate between the disputing parties.

One of Sarpin'€™s lawyers, Dion Pongkor, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that so far there had been no invitation from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno for a mediation session between Sarpin and commissioners Suparman Marzuki and Taufiqurrohman Syahuri, both whom were accused of defaming him in public.

The police named the two commissioners suspects in the case after Sarpin reported that they had damaged his reputation by criticizing his controversial ruling that favored high-ranking police officer Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in a pretrial case in February.

Sarpin has revoked Budi'€™s criminal allegations and ordered the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to stop investigations into the general.

A pretrial hearing was not authorized to determine the validity of criminal allegations slapped onto law enforcement institutions such as KPK at that time.

'€œWe had heard rumors that [Tedjo would initiate] the meeting after Idul Fitri, but we have not received official information yet. However, even if a meeting is scheduled, Sarpin has already expressed his wish not to make peace with the commissioners and to respect the legal process,'€ he said.

'€œHe has repeatedly said that he does not want to meet face-to-face with the [two commissioners].'€

Shortly after the ruling was made in favor of Budi, who now holds the deputy police chief position, the commission recommended that the Supreme Court, which supervises all judges in the country, impose six months non-hearing status on Sarpin for allegedly violating ethics in the case.

The recommendation has yet to be responded to by the court.

Dion reiterated that Sarpin had felt it was within his rights to report the two commissioners because they had criticized him before the Supreme Court decided whether he had mishandled Budi'€™s case.

'€œWe appreciate the gesture but all the moves for mediation have been initiated by a third party, not by Sarpin himself,'€ he said.

The police investigation into Suparman and Taufiqurrohman have also drawn public ire, with several activists and public figures calling on President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti to dismiss detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso from his current post.

While it is Sarpin'€™s right to report the case, it is still up to the police to decide whether the case can be pursued.

The commissioners made the public statements on Sarpin because monitoring judges and courts are part of their mandated responsibility as government officials.

A petition on change.org that has been signed by more than 17,000 signatories since being posted last week accuses Waseso of abusing his power to enact revenge on the behalf of Budi, widely known as his close acquaintance.

Since he was inaugurated detective division chief in January, Waseso has also named former KPK commissioners Abraham Samad and Bambang Widjojanto, who had been in charge of Budi'€™s case, suspects for separate crimes.

Head of the detective division'€™s subdirectorate III on general crimes, Sr. Comr. Umar Surya Fana, said that the police could not drop the case unless Sarpin personally requested to do so.

'€œThe investigators cannot do anything but investigate a case that has been reported. It is up to the maturity of both sides to decide whether the case should be stopped,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Taufiqurrohman was reluctant to talk about the case ahead of his scheduled questioning next week. '€œI think I'€™ve said enough,'€ he told the Post on Saturday.