T

he Judicial Commission has nominated five candidates for Supreme Court justices and, for the first time, two ad hoc judges for corruption courts.

The Commission handed the names to the House of Representatives on Thursday for the final selection process.

The five justices comprise three for the civil chamber, namely Judicial Commission member Ibrahim, Mataram High Court deputy chairman Panji Widagdo and Tanjung Karang High Court deputy chairman Setyawan Hartono, who were chosen from among 86 candidates registering for the positions.

The other two will fill the military and religious chambers. They are Jakarta Military Court chairman Hidayat Manao and Jakarta Religious High Court deputy chairman Edi Riadi.

Semarang Corruption Court ad hoc judge Darmawan S. Djamian and Bandung Corruption Court ad hoc judge Marsidin Nawawi are the candidates chosen for ad hoc judges out of a total of 53 applicants.

Judicial Commission chairman Aidul Fitriciada Azhari said that all of the candidates had passed a series of strict selection criteria, including administrative, quality, personality and health tests, as well as interviews with a panel of nine experts comprising seven Judicial Commission members, one law expert and one statesman, from January to June.

“We have proposed the names and now it’s the House’s turn to do its part,” Aidul said.

Ibrahim is a law lecturer with the Indonesia Muslim University in Makassar, North Sulawesi. He was proposed by the university. Panji and Setyawan were proposed by Central Sulawesi High Court and Palangkaraya High Court, respectively, both have been members of the judiciary for around 30 years.

Hidayat, currently a senior military judge, was among the candidates proposed by the Main Military Court, while Edi was proposed by his current office.

However, Aidul admitted that he could not fulfill the Supreme Court’s demand for a total of eight justices and three ad hoc judges because the rest did not meet the commission’s qualification standards.

“We can’t fill one position in the criminal chamber and one in the administrative court because the candidates for those chambers couldn’t meet the qualifications,” Aidul said. “We also can only give two names for ad hoc positions, out of the total of three required, for the same reason.”

According to the Judicial Commission, those who were eliminated are eligible to register to the next recruitment period.

During the selection processes, the Judicial Commission involved the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in dealing with the candidates’ wealth reports (LHKPN), and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) to examine their financial transaction records.

“To make sure that they are all clear of any graft implication,” Aidul said.

House Speaker Ade Komarudin said that he and four deputy speakers would hold an executive meeting after the Idul Fitri holiday before he would ask House Commission III, overseeing human rights and legal affairs, to hold confirmation hearings with the candidates.

“We should enjoy the Idul Fitri holiday first, after that I will discuss it with the Commission III chairman,” Ade said, referring to Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party.

Supreme Court justice Hatta Ali left the appointments to the Judicial Commission and the House to decide.
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