House Criticizes Supreme Court's Proposal on Judicial Commission
Friday, 12 January, 2007 | 11:59 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Some members of the Judicial Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) questioned the Supreme Court to remove the Judicial Commission from the Chapter of Legal Authority of the 1945 Constitution. “What was the grounds for the removal? It did not have any grounds and showed that the Supreme Court had excessive concern,” said a member of the DPR Judicial Commission Lukman Hakim S. yesterday (01/11).

The Supreme Court had earlier asked that the Judicial Commission be excluded from legal authority. Therefore, the Supreme Court asked that the Judicial Commission be removed from Chapter IX of the 1945 Constitution on Legal Authority. “The Judicial Court was not an institution of legal authority. It must move out or be removed,” said a spokesperson of the Supreme Court Djoko Sarwoko.

Djoko said that the Judicial Commission is legal authority and has caused judges not to be independent in carrying out their tasks. “Should judges gain pressure, they will be surely not independent,” he said.

According to Lukman, although the Judicial Commission was not the participant of legal authority, it did not mean that the Judicial Commission cannot exist in the matter of legal power. “Because not only does the chapter regulate legal authority, but it also regulates the implementation of control,” he said.

A similar opinion was revealed by Benny K. Harman, another member of the Judicial Commission. In his opinion, the basic idea of attaching Judicial Commission on the matter was to strengthen the judicial institution. “The Judicial Commission's function is to control legal authority,” he said.

TITO SIANIPAR