T

he House of Representatives’ Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, on Wednesday confirmed the selection of five Supreme Court justices proposed by the Judicial Commission.

The five judges, who will serve in different divisions, passed the confirmation hearings conducted by lawmakers.

From numerous applications it had received, the Judicial Commission selected 14 names in July, before picking only five to be proposed for assessment to Commission III.

“We have decided to approve the five justice candidates. Thirty of 52 members of the commission have signed the approval,” Commission III chairman Bambang Soesatyo said at the end of the confirmation hearing.

The five justices are: Hidayat Manao, to serve for the military division; Yodi Martono Wahyunadi for the administrative courts division, Gazalba Saleh for the criminal courts division, Yasardin for the religious courts division and Muhammad Yunus Wahab to be assigned to the civil courts division.

Bambang said members of the commission had decided to approve the five justice candidates, “because they have answered commission members very well.”

“They have the capability. Also, the Supreme Court now needs a lot of justices to complete cases it is handling,” the Golkar Party politician said.

Hidayat, who appeared first for Wednesday’s fit and proper test and presented a proposal for reforming military courts, is a former head of the Surabaya High Military Court. He spent most of his career at military courts. Before moving to Surabaya, he was the deputy head of the Medan High Military Court in 2013.

Meanwhile, Yodi was the head of the Supreme Court’s technical development and administrative directorate. In his paper for the fit and proper test, he raised an issue about some administrative courts verdicts that have not been executed.

“Administrative courts handle government policies that violate the constitution or good governance principles […]. The government itself should voluntarily abandon its policy [when the court rules against the government],” Yodi said.

Gazalba is a former law lecturer at Narotama University in Surabaya and a former ad hoc judge at the Surabaya Corruption Court.

Before becoming a Supreme Court justice, Yasardin was a high court judge at the Palembang Islamic Court in South Sumatra. He is also a former high court judge at the Jakarta Islamic Court. Meanwhile, the last justice approved, Muhammad Yunus, is a former Palembang High Court judge. He was a judge at the Makassar High Court from 2013 to 2016.

“Our message to them is that hopefully they will not besmirch the Supreme Court’s reputation with corruption,” Bambang said, warning the five newly selected judges.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently arrested several judges for alleged corruption, placing judges at the center of public attention.

“Thank God I have been selected. My commitment is that I will not become involved in corruption and will hand down verdicts as just as possible,” Gazalba said after his approval.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Arad Caesar said the five judges now had the responsibility to salvage the image of judicial institutions by, among other things, not getting involved in corruption and by handing down consistent verdicts for similar cases.

“There are instances where there are two similar cases, but the verdicts are different,” Arad told The Jakarta Post. “It is important to bring back a sense of justice,” he added.