W

hile constantly under fire for poor and unfair decisions, judges at lower courts are also shouldering the heaviest task in upholding justice, since they are the ones who first examine and structure witnesses and evidence in cases.

Recent data released by the Judicial Commission shows that many lower court judges in five major provinces in the country have been reported by the public for alleged ethical breaches.

As of August, the commission, which has received 1,092 reports from the public concerning alleged ethical breaches by judges, found that courts in Jakarta, East Java, North Sumatra, West Java and Central Java also had the most cases in the country.

Jakarta province received the most complaints, with 20.6 percent of the total, while East Java accounted for 10.53 percent, North Sumatra 9.52 percent, West Java 8.33 percent and Central Java 5.49 percent.

Although the commission said many things were behind the number, the finding raises questioned about the importance of improving the recruitment of judges to attract only the best lower court judges while boosting the skills and professionalism of judges.

Judicial Commission commissioner and spokesman Farid Wajdi confirmed that the figure showed not only that the low number of judges handling the mounting cases at lower courts could be among the reasons for the quality of the hearings but also that judges’ professional skills needed to be improved.

“In terms of professional experience, the judges at 1A lower courts are actually senior judges,” Farid said.

Other reasons for the number were the high complexity of cases and better public access to the lower courts and to the commission, as well as more transparent trials at lower courts compared to other courts, said Farid.

The hope of introducing more comprehensive means to reform the judiciary, particularly after the commission lost its authority to partake in the recruitment of lower court judges last year, is now pinned on a plan to introduce a law on judges’ positions aimed at building up an instrument to improve the standards of integrity in the judicial environment.

The House of Representatives’ Legislative Body (Baleg) discussed the draft bill early this month and is set to be further discussed by the House’s legal affairs commission. A number of crucial efforts to reform the judiciary are expected to be included in the bill, for instance, a provision that will limit Supreme Court justices’ term of five years, with possible extensions every five years after evaluation by the commission and approval from the House.

The commission has given Baleg input on the bill and highlighted the importance of forming a selection committee for judge recruitment, which should also involve independent actors such as members of the public and legal scholars.

The Supreme Court, which has long opposed the idea of monitoring by the commission, got a leg up from the Indonesian Judges Association (IKAHI) after the group won a petition in October at the Constitutional Court that stripped the commission of its role in lower court judge selection.

However, there is no reason not to involve other entities in the process, said Choky Ramadhan from the University of Indonesia’s Judicial Watch Society (MAPPI), whose institution has been involved in Supreme Court reform. “Checks and balances in the process cannot be done if is under the sole jurisdiction of the Supreme Court,” Choky said.

Supreme Court justice Suhadi, who is also the spokesman of the country’s top judicial institution, admitted that the mounting cases was the biggest challenge.

The Supreme Court will leave the decision on whether to introduce a new vetting mechanism for lower court judges, said spokesman justice Suhadi.

“All this point, we have involved those from the public in the selection process, for example in ad-hoc judges’ selection,” Suhadi said in his defense.

The Supreme Court, however, strongly rejected the plan of assessing judges every five years.