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.

“The reform in the Supreme Court is not perfect yet. But if they said (the reform) should be re-examined, what are the measurements and parameters that they used?” he asked.

Regarding the growing number of violations committed by judicial officers, Harifin stated that it did not mean that the number of violations increased. It rather showed that the supervision and transparency in the Court was much better, he said.

Furthermore, Chief Justice added, the number of public complaints against behavior of judicial staff is only a few related to the violation of code of ethics. Most of the complaints stems from dissatisfaction with the court decisions (verdicts). Nevertheless, the Supreme Court still pays great attention to the complaints for the sake of change for the better.