Unwelcome Additions

At a hearing of the legislation committee of the House of Representatives (DPR), 'career judges' and 'ad hoc judges' were suddenly cast as foes. A number of justices with the Indonesian Judges' Association (Ikahi) and the Indonesian Judges' Forum (FDHI) proposed abolishing ad hoc judges at the meeting on May 23. "We just heard the proposal for the first time," said Firman Soebagyo, deputy chairman of the committee on Friday last week.

The committee invited Ikahi and FDHI to provide input for a new bill on the judicial office. At the meeting, FDHI spokesman Andi Muhammad Yusuf Bakri said ad hoc judges were no longer required. Among his reasons was the consideration that many career judges were now trained in the special areas where ad hoc judges had been needed. The opinion was backed by Ikahi member Abdul Gani Abdullah. "Now the legislation committee needs only to await a meeting with the legal affairs commission, who is the bill's initiator," said Firman.