Paras Indonesia, May, 03 2006 @ 01:43 pm
Supreme Court Chief Retained Despite Scandals
By: Roy Tupai
Don't expect criticism of Indonesia's notoriously corrupt judiciary to end any time
soon. Supreme Court chief justice Bagir Manan, who is embroiled in a bribery scandal
and has a history of highly questionable verdicts, has been re-elected to remain at the
helm of the country's top judicial institution until 2011.
Manan, who is also fiercely opposed to efforts to expose and fire corrupt judges, was
appointed Supreme Court chief in May 2001 and scheduled to end his term on May
18, 2006. He was re-elected on Tuesday (2/5/06) by 44 of the Supreme Court's 48
active justices.
Supreme Court deputy chief for supervision Gunanto Suryono received two votes,
deputy chief for national administration Paulus Lotulung received one vote, and
another vote was declared invalid.
Cynical observers immediately assumed the court had engineered the four non-Manan
votes in a feeble effort to make it look as if the election was not rigged.
Supreme Court secretary Rum Nessa, who chaired the election process, denied there
had been any shenanigans and said a recent plenary meeting had determined that
Manan was the best candidate.
Anti-corruption activists are still hoping the government and parliament will join forces
to fire Manan and find someone with a cleaner reputation to replace him.
Manan was to have retired this October, when he will turn 65 - the mandatory
retirement age for judges. But he last year extended the retirement age to 67. That
means he is now due to resign on October 6, 2008. Observers say there's nothing to
stop him from again extending the retirement age.
Speaking to reporters after his re-election, Manan claimed he would willingly retire and
not seek to serve out his second five-year term until 2011. "If I really have to retire,
yes it will be retirement then. It must not be five years. So we should not discuss this
now," he was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal. He said a new
election could be held after his retirement.
He claimed his re-election took him by surprise, admitting he had not considered
himself worthy of another term in office. "I felt I was not the best of those available. I
had not been thinking about being re-elected."
Nevertheless, Manan said he was pleased with the result of the election. "I'm happy
and grateful to God because my friends still believe in me to lead the Supreme Court
as chief justice."
Law Students Protest
Members of the Indonesian Law Students Association (IMHI) protested outside the
Supreme Court during the election, accusing Manan of corruption and incompetence.
They listed four main reasons why Manan should step down immediately.
First, there were indications he was involved in the payment of a Rp6 billion bribe by
former dictator Suharto's half-brother Probosutedjo to the Supreme Court.
Second, the Supreme Court failed to deal with numerous controversial cases under
Manan's tenure from 2001 to 2006.
Third, Manan has refused to cooperate with the Corruption Eradication Commission
(KPK) and Judicial Commission, which were set up in an effort eliminate institutional
graft.
And fourth, judges presiding over the ongoing corruption trial of Probosutedjo's lawyer
recently rejected the prosecution's demand to summon Manan as a witness, even
though the case is centered on allegations that he was to have received the lion's
share of the bribe.
"Bagir Manan cannot set a good example as Supreme Court chief because we see
has failed to make any achievements," IMHI coordinator Fiktor Tanisa was quoted as
saying by detikcom.
The student protesters sang songs calling on Manan to quit. They also carried
banners and posters with slogans such as 'Don't Let Bagir Manan be Supreme Court
Chief Again' and 'Bagir is the Bastion of the Judicial Mafia'.
The students were unable to discuss their concerns with the Supreme Court justices,
who were preoccupied with a banquet held after Manan's re-election.
'Leadership Crisis'
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) deputy coordinator Danang Widoyoko lamented
Manan's re-election, saying he had failed to reform the judiciary. "We cannot have
high hopes for the Supreme Court to be capable of creating legal certainty in this
country because it is still lead by Bagir Manan," he was quoted as saying by state
news agency Antara.
Danang said he did not know whether Manan would attempt to stay on after reaching
the retirement age in 2008.
Legislator Benny K. Harman of parliament's Commission III on legal affairs said
Manan was the best of a bad bunch of senior judges. "Bagir is the best of the ugliest.
And at this time he is the appropriate choice," he was quoted as saying by detikcom.
He said Manan was re-elected because most other judges lack the capacity to
become chief justice. He said parliament was to blame for the "leadership crisis" in
the Supreme Court because it had appointed the senior justices.
"Don't blame those who do not have any ability. This is because it was parliament that
determined them as senior justices," said the Democrat Party member.
He said while most of the Supreme Court's judges are old and set in their ways, the
younger judges are no better because they are also incapable of adopting progressive
thinking. "Which of the young ones are good? I haven't found any. There aren't any
with progressive thinking."
Despite his pessimism, Harman expressed hope that Manan would be able to
straighten out the judiciary across the country "in order to stop the judicial mafia".
Denny Indrayana, director of justice watchdog Indonesian Court Monitoring, said the
judicial mafia would continue to thrive due to Manan's re-election. He said the 44
senior justices voted for Manan because their only desire is to maintain the crooked
status quo.
"I am very disappointed in this. They should really be opposing the judicial mafia, but
they actually want the status quo and re-elected Bagir. So how can there be judicial
reform?" he was quoted as saying by detikcom.
He lashed out at Manan for failing to come up with a clear mission statement on how
to reform the judiciary. He said the senior justices were undoubtedly unified behind
Manan because he firmly opposes the Judicial Commission's plan to evaluate judges
and dismiss any found to be corrupt.
Indrayana said the refusal of judges to allow Manan to be summoned as a witness in
the Probosutedjo-Supreme Court bribery case was a glaring example of legal
discrimination. "The law is still discriminatory. Bagir has to become a witness as a
prerequisite for eradicating the judicial mafia."
Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin welcomed the Supreme Court's
freedom to choose its leader, saying it established a good precedent. "I think it is
good because the Supreme Court justices have their own autonomy to vote for their
own leader," he was quoted as saying by Antara.
"We have to welcome it, as it was a good step," he added. His praise may be due to
the fact that Manan has never shown interest in claims that the minister received
bribes when serving as a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Legislator Almuzamil Yusuf was less enthusiastic, saying Manan should forge a
better relationship with the Judicial Commission in order to improve the process of
judicial reform.
"Bagir must be able to improve his past leadership, as the Supreme Court is seen as
being less responsive toward demand for reforms and eradication of the judicial
mafia," he was quoted as saying by Antara.
Yusuf, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said Manan and his judges
must not shirk from criticism, but should instead be more proactive in accepting
suggestions on how to stop corruption in the courts.
"Judges in the Supreme Court must not be so over-confident as to think their
prerogative to issue verdicts means they cannot be monitored. If that happens, it
means the judges regard themselves as the absolute gods in the world of justice," he
said.
He said judges are certainly no angels and those involved in corruption, collusion and
nepotism should be brought to justice themselves. "Those judges are not angels who
have no lust or desire. The Supreme Court should therefore be firm in eradicating the
judicial mafia within the highest judicial institution."
Zero New Plans
Manan said he would come up with a blueprint for the Supreme Court's work for the
next five years, but admitted he did not yet have any new programs, ideas or policies.
"There isn't anything yet. But I will continue to carry out my work in accordance with
the blueprint... That's my obligation, to prepare the blueprint later," he said.
Manan proudly said the Supreme Court had performed well under his leadership.
Citing an example, he said that from 2005 to March 2006, the court had dealt with
15,500 cases from a backlog of 29,000 cases. "If this speed can be maintained,
hopefully there will no longer be any backlog by the end of 2006 or early 2007."
He said the Supreme Court could achieve greater success with more funding from
parliament. "That would facilitate our work," he added.
Judges Deny Conspiracy
Supreme Court spokesman Djoko Sarwoko and deputy chief for special crimes
Iskandar Kamil denied that Manan's re-election was due to engineering. They said the
fact that Manan did not win all votes was proof there was no conspiracy. They also
said the majority of justices voted for Manan without hesitation because they were
impressed by his good track record, managerial skills and various achievements.
Appalling Track Record
Here are just a few examples of why anti-corruption activists feel Manan deserves the
boot.
Upon assuming office in 2001, Manan promised that one of his top priorities would be
to "clean-up the house" by taking action against corrupt judges. But since then, the
Supreme Court's disciplinary committee has investigated only a handful of judges on
suspicion of taking bribes and exonerated all of them. This was most glaringly obvious
in 2003, when the committee exonerated three Jakarta Commercial Court judges, who
had allegedly received bribes to declare the local unit of Canada-based insurance firm
Manulife bankrupt even though the company was solvent. The Supreme Court
defended its move, whereas the now-defunct Audit Commission for Public Servants'
Wealth found two of the judges had failed to clarify discrepancies in their wealth and
had been dishonest.
In February 2004, the Supreme Court controversially overturned then parliament
speaker Akbar Tanjung's corruption conviction and three-year jail sentence. When a
lower court judge resigned in protest at the ruling, Manan accused him of lying.
In September 2004, the Supreme Court refused to reinstate then Bank Indonesia
Governor Syahril Sabirin's corruption conviction and three-year jail sentence.
In July 2005, Manan headed a panel of Supreme Court judges that cut the prison
sentence of former dictator Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra,
from 15 to 10 years for murdering a Supreme Court judge and other offenses.
Observers said it was utterly reprehensible and cowardly of Manan to reduce the
sentence of a villain who had killed an honest judge.
In September 2005, Manan headed a panel of judges presiding over Probosutedjo's
appeal against his corruption conviction. Controversy erupted when the KPK arrested
Probosutedjo's lawyer and five Supreme Court officials on suspicion of involvement in
bribery. The lawyer said she had paid a bribe of Rp6 billion - of which Rp5 billion was
intended for Manan - in order to have Probosutedjo's conviction overturned.
Probosutedjo admitted to paying the money, as well as another Rp10 billion to lower
courts. Manan denied any involvement and appointed a new panel of judges to handle
the appeal. Probosutedjo was subsequently jailed and the lawyer is now on trial.
Manan has repeatedly refused to cooperate with officials investigating the case.
In January 2006, Manan questioned the legality of the government's plan to replace
unprofessional judges. He said there was insufficient legal basis for the Judicial
Commission's move to evaluate the performance of all Supreme Court judges and
remove those found to be crooked or lacking integrity.
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