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Minister refuses to discuss Judicial Commission-Sarpin conflict
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan has said he will not intervene in an ongoing conflict between the Judicial Commission (KY) and South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi
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oordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan has said he will not intervene in an ongoing conflict between the Judicial Commission (KY) and South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi.
'I think this is their internal problem. Let them resolve it. There are many more important problems that we need to give close attention to,' he said as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Thursday. The minister was speaking after a ceremony to take over the role from his predecessor, Tedjo Edhy Purdiyatno.
Luhut said his office was paying closer attention to economic problems deemed much more serious.
'Our economic problems are much more serious, especially those which are related to the global and domestic economy. So, we don't have to exaggerate the technical problems [between the KY and Sarpin],' said the retired four-star military general, who is still serving as President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's chief of staff.
Luhut's policy contradicted what Tedjo previously said when he served as the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister. On many occasions, Tedjo always expressed his wish to reconcile Sarpin and the KY. Even after handing over his ministerial position, Tedjo continued to say that he wanted to complete his efforts to bring peace to the two conflicting parties.
'It might take quite a long time. Although I'm no longer a minister, I still want to help achieve reconciliation between Pak Sarpin and the KY so that political turmoil in this country can be prevented,' said Tedjo, who also claimed that he had entrusted the conflict resolution to his successor.
The conflict between the KY and Sarpin began when the National Police's Criminal Investigations Directorate (Bareskrim) named two KY judges, Suparman Marzuki and Taufiqurrohman Syahuri, as suspects in a case of alleged libel against Sarpin. Their naming as suspects was based on a report filed by Sarpin, as the South Jakarta District Court judge, with the police.
Sarpin was the lone judge who handled a pretrial hearing request filed by Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan against the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) decision to name the latter as a graft suspect. (ebf)(++++)
