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Adultery second-most common ethics breach by Indonesian judges
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Penalties have been handed down to a total of 48 judges since 2009, which includes 16 cases of adultery and 23 gratuity cases (Shutterstock/File)
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ribery cases implicating judges have repeatedly put the country’s judiciary in the spotlight, raising concern about impartiality for years. What is less known, however, is that adultery is the second-most common type of ethics violation tainting the courts of law.
An analysis of cases handled by a joint ethics panel of the Judicial Commission (KY) and the Supreme Court (MA) reveals that penalties have been handed down to a total of 48 judges since 2009, which includes 16 cases of adultery and 23 gratuity cases. Another five cases involve disciplinary problems, three others drug abuse and one concerns document forgery.
Many of the extramarital affairs involved judges working at courts far from their families, the commission has found.
Abdul Rahman, a 33-yearold judge at a religious court in Labuha in North Maluku, is the latest judge to be dismissed, after the ethics panel on Tuesday found that he had breached the code of ethics by having an extramarital affair.
Abdul was called before the ethics hearing after his then wife, identified only as R, had filed a report against her husband with the commission in February, because of her suspicions that Abdul was having an affair with SD, a widow living near his house in Labuha, following Abdul’s transfer to Labuha.
“The aggravating factor is that the action has lowered the dignity of both the judge profession and the judiciary, because the case has gained the attention of the locals and officials in North Maluku,” KY commissioner Jaja Ahmad Jayus, who is also a member of the ethics panel, said in the verdict.
Read also: Judges, court officials sanctioned after arrest
