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Controversial Sarpin awarded promotion
Sarpin Rizaldi - JP/DONSouth Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi, who ruled in favor of National Police deputy chief Comr
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Sarpin Rizaldi - JP/DON
South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi, who ruled in favor of National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in a February pretrial hearing, has received a promotion to the high court.
South Jakarta District Court spokesperson I Made Sutrisna confirmed Sarpin's promotion on Thursday, saying that he would serve as a judge at the Pekanbaru High Court.
'Yes, it is true that the Supreme Court has made an official decision on the promotion of Pak Sarpin. He is among 425 judges who received a promotion,' Made told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Made said there was nothing out of the ordinary about the promotion as it was only a regular tour of duty in the country's judicial institutions.
Made added that the promotion was decided solely by the Supreme Court and that South Jakarta District head Haswandi, who made a similar controversial ruling against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in May, had not contributed to the decision.
'It is the prerogative of Supreme Court chief justice [Hatta Ali] to decide about such a promotion,' Made said, adding that Sarpin deserved the promotion as he was a senior judge in terms of age and rank.
Made said that Sarpin would continue working for the South Jakarta District Court until the Supreme Court announced the details of his official transfer to Riau next month.
When asked if Sarpin received the promotion as a reward for his controversial decision in favor of Budi, Made declined to comment. 'I am not in a position to answer the question because any promotion decision is in the hands of the Supreme Court chief justice,' Made said.
Antigraft activists quickly condemned the Supreme Court for the controversial judge's promotion.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Aradila Caesar urged the Supreme Court to explain its decision.
'A promotion should be given to judges with positive achievements, not those with negative achievements. The decision needs some explaining. Is there any relationship between the promotion and the ruling on Budi Gunawan? Because on many occasions the Supreme Court applauded the ruling and deemed it 'good' and 'progressive',' Aradila told the Post.
'This is a test for the Supreme Court, if it fails to give an explanation then it can be deemed a backward institution that does not support the country's fight against corruption,' he said.
In March, instead of meeting demands made by legal experts and former Supreme Court justices to overturn Sarpin's controversial ruling, which they claimed to have violated the country's Criminal Law Procedures (KUHAP), the Supreme Court applauded the ruling by saying that Sarpin had made a 'legal breakthrough' on issues that were not regulated by the KUHAP.
Sarpin approved Budi's pretrial plea to challenging the KPK's decision to name him a suspect in a graft case despite the fact that the KUHAP restricts the authority of the pretrial mechanism to determining the legality of an arrest or detention, terminating an investigation or prosecution, or granting a request for compensation and rehabilitation.
However, the Constitutional Court agreed with the Supreme Court and in April ruled that a pretrial hearing could judge the legality of a primary investigation, a major blow to the power of law enforcement agencies, especially the KPK.
Following the Constitutional Court ruling, Haswandi also issued a ruling demanding the KPK halt its probe into former Supreme Audit Agency chief Hadi Poernomo's in May, in relation to an alleged tax scandal case involving hundreds of billions of rupiah, which also implicated Bank Central Asia.
'The promotion confirmed that the Supreme Court supported all of Sarpin's controversial moves. The promotion defies logic,' said Erwin Natosmal, a campaigner with the Indonesian Legal Roundtable.
