YOGYAKARTA – Authority of Judicial Commission is still weak and needs to be strengthened. This can be done through amendments to Law No. 22/2004 on Judicial Commission. If the authority is not strengthened, the role of the Commission will be weak, too. "The Judicial Commission selects candidates of Supreme Judges as well as monitors their performance. The fact so far showed that this is not yet effective that it needs to be strengthened further," Selection Committee member of Judicial Commission, Ramli Hutabarat, said in public discussion entitled Looking for the Ideal Members of Judicial Commission at UC UGM on Thursday (1/7).
Ramli said that besides the weak authority, so far there is no common perception, especially between Judicial Commission and Supreme Court about the unfair judges. As a result, many recommendations from Judicial Commission related to those judges are not processed by the Supreme Court. On that occasion, Ramli also described the Selection Committee’s limited working time, in addition to budget problems. The budget will be needed for socializing and advertising the work. "The Judicial Commission will complete its task on August 19, although ideally according to the Law, the selection takes six months. The work of committee is quite frankly in a rush," he said.
Meanwhile, Dhimas Prasidi from Judicial Monitoring Coalition assessed that it would be quite difficult for the committee to elect the members with the limited time in addition to the budget problems. This showed that the government is not serious, especially in the election of members of Judicial Commission by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "Over the years, many commissions were formed but they seem as not serious, such as Attorney Commission that has not materialized until today, the Witness Protection Agency (LPSK) whose authority is not clear, or the legal problems in the Public Information Commission (KIP)," said Dhimas.
According to Dhimas, the prerequisites for the commissioners are common as stated in Article 7 Paragraph 3 of Law 22/2004 preferring former judges, legal practitioners, legal academicians, and community members. However, this arrangement will affect the selection process as it will produce candidates that are uncontrolled and unfocused. "This selection process will potentially be occupied by people who are not competent in carrying out their authority," he added.
Almost similar with that, an observer from Center for Anti Corruption Studies of Faculty of Law UGM, Hifdzil Alim, said that the limited working time of the selection committee would impact on the poor quality of judges. Such incapabilities will impact on the judges who will be selected. "Corruption cases in regions will possibly go uncontrolled if the Supreme Court are managed by incompetent and incapable judges. The President should not be indifferent to the limited working time of the commission," Hifdzil said.
Previously, the government has succeeded in establishing commissioners of the Judicial Commission, consisting of 19 people. The President appointed Director General of Human Rights in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, as its Chairman. The member registration began on May 18 to July 18, 2010. The committee will elect 14 candidates as members who are then proposed to the President and forwarded to the Parliament to undergo a fit and proper test. The parliament will choose seven members of Judicial Commission for their term of service period 2010 to 2015.