KY urges Jokowi to halt justice inauguration

JAKARTA. The Judicial Commission (KY) has demanded that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo postpone the inauguration of Suhartoyo, a Denpasar High Court judge who has recently been appointed as a new Constitutional Court justice.

Judicial Commission deputy chairman Imam Anshori Saleh said on Tuesday that the commission would conduct a meeting this week to discuss a plan to send a formal letter to the President requesting a delay.

“The meeting is this week and the letter will be sent next week. We made the request [for the postponement] to some State Palace officials informally,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Imam said the official appointment should be postponed as Suhartoyo was still being investigated by the commission for his alleged involvement in the controversial release of businessman Sudjiono Timan, who was charged in a corruption case on Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI), which caused Rp 2.2 trillion (US$178.1 million) in state
losses.

Suhartoyo was on the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court that delivered the verdict.

“We’re trying to finish [the investigation] in December because there’s only a few steps left [before we can declare whether Suhartoyo is guilty or not],” Imam said.

He said the commission had collected all the evidence and had spoken to witnesses.

“We only need to summon the judge [Suhartoyo] to clarify [the allegations against him],” said Imam.

Commissioner Eman Suparman said the commission was also investigating Suhartoyo’s trip to Singapore during Sudjiono’s case.

“We already have the data, such as who he was with and when the trip took place,” he told the Post on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court should not have rushed to name Suhartoyo as a new justice, as the commission had already given a recommendation to the court, said Eman.

“We already made recommendations and we don’t support [Suhartoyo’s appointment],” he said. “We were asked [by the Supreme Court] to give recommendations and these were ignored.”

The Supreme Court has stood by its decision, saying that the decision to name Suhartoyo had been taken after a careful deliberation process.

Along with Suhartoyo, it has named Bangka Belitung High Court deputy head Manahan Sitompul to replace outgoing Constitutional Court justices Ahmad Fadlil Sumadi and Muhammad Alim.

“For me, it [the commission’s objection] is unreasonable because Suhartoyo has passed the selection process and according to data from our monitoring body, he does not have any record of ethics code violations,” Supreme Court deputy chief justice Suwardi said recently.

The commission’s Eman said Suwardi was disrespecting the country’s justice system.