T

he House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs approved on Wednesday the nomination of two career judges as Supreme Court justices.

They are Abdul Manaf, who spent most of his career in the religious court, and civil court judge Pri Pambudi Teguh, who is also the older brother of Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo.

The new two justices, who were proposed by the Judicial Commission following a series of tests and interviews, will now serve the Supreme Court’s religious chamber and civil chamber.

Abdul and Pri survived the confirmation hearing on Tuesday and were approved by all 10 political party factions on Wednesday.

“We approved [the pair] by acclamation, particularly since the Supreme Court is in need of more justices,” Commission III deputy chairman Desmond J. Mahesa of the Gerindra Party said on Wednesday.

Abdul is a former director general of the Supreme Court’s religious court body, a position he had held since 2015 after serving in the Supreme Court’s supervisory body as the head of regional office IV that oversees West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua.

Various issues, including subjects considered sensitive to some, were brought to the table during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing, as reported in live Twitter updates by WikiDPR, a non-profit organization comprising volunteers from universities across the country who report on House hearing sessions.

Commission III member Junimart Girsang of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for instance, asked Abdul why he once granted a legal petition from a married man to allow the latter to practice polygamy.

The ruling was made when Abdul oversaw the case and while he was serving as the head of the Karangasem Religious Court in Bali between 1996 and 2004.

Abdul said his decision was philosophical and based on a well-known doctrine in Bali that a family without a son was considered imperfect.

In the confirmation hearing, Abdul also promised to push for bureaucratic reform within the Supreme Court. “[My] priority program is to expedite the process of [managing] court records,” he said.

Just like Abdul, Pri also expressed a commitment to supporting internal reform of the court, saying he would simplify systems to prevent cases piling up at the court.

When some lawmakers raised questions about professionalism and integrity and asked Pri whether or not he had received gratuities from disputing parties in cases he was handling, Pri said he was determined not to accept any illicit gifts.

Pri previously served as the high court judge at the Semarang High Court in Central Java from 2017, following years as a junior clerk handling civil cases at the Supreme Court.

Both Pri and Abdul passed the Judicial Commission’s final assessment in June. A total of 84 applicants vyed for eight justice slots, which were requested by the Supreme Court.

On Monday, Desmond criticized the Judicial Commission for the lack of justice candidates proposed by the House, accusing the commission of having a tendency to choose candidates solely based on their professional backgrounds rather than looking at whether they have a commitment to improving their skills in the future.

Supreme Court spokesperson Abdullah, in the meantime, welcomed the two new justices.

“We expect their presence can help speed up the settlement of disputes filed with both religious and civil chambers,” he said.