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Critics demand better screening for Supreme Court justice candidates
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The Supreme Court building in Central Jakarta. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court/-)
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fter recent graft scandals involving Supreme Court justices that severely undermined the integrity of the country's highest court, critics have demanded better screening procedures for recruiting new justices to ensure clean and high-quality appointees.
House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs is expected to convene confirmation hearings soon for six justice candidates who have passed the screening process by the Judicial Commission.
The recruitment of 11 new justices, which came following the arrests of then justices Gazalba Saleh and Sudrajad Dimyati, has led to a push to create a more stringent process in an attempt to prevent judicial corruption.
Yuris Rezha Kurniawan of Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) Corruption Studies Center (PUKAT) stressed the importance of transparent confirmation hearings to choose justices of high integrity in order to eradicate corruption in the top court.
"The selection process must be able to ensure that the candidates are those who not only have competence in the field of law and justice but also have a commitment to, and a good track record in, eradicating corruption," he said.
Then-justice Gazalba was arrested in December on allegations of accepting bribes in return for a cassation ruling favoring a businessman in a civil case against a Semarang-based savings and loan cooperative, some three months after fellow judge Sudrajad was detained on similar charges.
The investigations into the cases took place more than two decades after the Supreme Court started judicial reform in the early 2000s. The cases prompted President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to order his administration to immediately put together a formula to speed up reform without threatening judicial independence, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
