The Independence of Judges Must always be Maintained

Some of the new Chief Judges of Appellate Courts that were installed by Chief Justice on Thursday (18/3).

Jakarta | badilag.net/english

Chief Justice Hon. Harifin Andi Tumpa said judges had to maintain their independence and keep away from any kind of intervention. The independence was not a form of arrogance but purely for the sake of objectivity.

Harifin made those statements when installing 30 new Chief Judges of Appellate Courts from four jurisdictions, General, Religious, Administrative and Military Court, on Thursday (18/3/10) in the Supreme Court building, Jakarta.

In his welcome speech, Harifin also said the Supreme Court would always refresh its management to remain dynamic and not static. The Court, he continued, keeps on decentralizing and delegating its development over lower courts to Appellate Courts to ensure rapid and sustainable development and fostering.

On this occasion, Chief Justice also tried to address a number of criticisms saying that bureaucratic reforms in the Supreme Court do not go as it should.

Prof. Mark Cammack on the next EMC

The Recent Upturn in Divorce in Indonesia

Jakarta | badilag.net/english

Prof. Mark Cammack has confirmed his presence as the keynote speaker in the next English Meeting Club (EMC) that will be held on April 1, 2010 at the office of Badilag (Religious Courts Body in the Supreme Court). Mark, Professor of Law from Southwestern Law School Los Angeles, will be presenting his paper entitled “The Recent Upturn in Divorce in Indonesia.”

“I am writing this paper and would like some inputs and comments from members of EMC,” Prof. Mark told badilag.net Thursday morning (18/3).

Prof. Mark has been in Indonesia for a research on inheritance law practiced in Indonesian Religious Courts. He has written a number books and articles concerning with Islamic Law in Indonesia. His most recent book is “Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions” (Harvard University Press: 1997) and his newest article is “Discovering Islamic Law" (2009).

The other speaker in the next EMC will be Shofa’u Qalbi, judge candidate at East Jakarta Religious Court, who will be delivering his paper titled “Questioning Letter of Permission for Civil Servants in Divorce Cases.”

Badilag hereby invites interested participants throughout Indonesia to attend the regular English Discussion.

Chief Justice:

Judges must uphold procedural and Substantive Justice

Jakarta | badilag.net/english

Judges must uphold procedural law to reveal procedural justice and enforce substantive law to secure substantive justice, says Supreme Court Chief Justice.

“We must not prioritize one over the other. Procedural law is as important as substantive law. If we ignore the formal law, then injustice will emerge. That applies likewise,” Chief Justice Harifin A. Tumpa said Friday (19/2) when delivering keynote speech at National Seminar on Religious Courts’ Substantive Law, in Jakarta.

Supreme Court selects 27 ad hoc corruption judges

Source : thejakartapost.com

The Supreme Court has selected 27 ad hoc judges that will hear corruption cases in seven provinces across the country.

Spokesman for the Supreme Court Hatta Ali, said Wednesday that 19 judges would serve at the district level in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Medan, Palembang, Samarinda and Makassar and four from each region would hear appeal cases at the provincial high court and the Supreme Court.

“The number of judges is too small compared to the number of graft cases they will hear. We only managed to select 27 judges due to a lack of human resources,” Hatta told Antara state news agency.

He said that another round of selections would be conducted in the near future.

The 2009 Corruption Court Law mandates the formation of a corruption court in all regencies and municipalities across the country. The court falls under the supervision of the local district court.