Former Chief Justice Anwar Usman Faces Fresh Ethics Board Complaint Over Comments About Conflicts of Interest
By Regi Pratasyah Vasudewa, Diamanty Meiliana for Kompas.com, Nov 23, 2023
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — Mr. Anwar Usman, a Justice at Indonesia’s Constitutional Court and until recently the Chief Justice of the Court, has again become the subject of a complaint filed with the Judicial Conduct Board of the Court on Thursday (11/23/2023).
The Nusantara Lawyers’ Movement (Perekat Nusantara) and the Indonesian Democracy Defenders Team (TPDI) lodged a complaint against Justice Anwar Usman over comments he made on November 8, 2023.
At the event, Justice Anwar Usman suggested that several previous Constitutional Court decisions might have involved conflicts of interest. He pointed out that despite this, none of the constitutional justice involved had withdrawn from those cases.
Speaking for the complainants, Mr. Carrel said they were disturbed by Justice Anwar Usman’s remarks.
“We are complaining again over the statement of Justice Anwar Usman that during the time the Constitutional Court was led by Chief Justices Jimly Ashiddiqie, Mahfud Md, and Hamdan Zoelfa, and Arief Hidayat, there were conflicts of interest in terms of the judicial review of sections of the Constitutional Court’s statute,” said Mr. Carrel, Thursday.
“This accusation is plainly absurd, unethical, slanderous, and highly irresponsible. It seeks to justify Justice Anwar Usman’s actions, who, bluntly put, was dismissed as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court,” Mr. Carrel continued.
The complaint was received by the Judicial Conduct Board secretariat on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Fajar Laksono, Head of the Judicial Conduct Board Secretariat confirmed the lodging of the complaint.
It was noted that Justice Anwar Usman held a press conference on November 8, 2023, at the Constitutional Court building.
Justice Anwar Usman mentioned the names of several previous Constitutional Court justices whose decisions might have been deemed to involve conflicts of interest.
He cited case 96/PUU-XVIII/2020 concerning the term of office of Constitutional Court justices.
Justice Anwar emphasized that the challenge to Article 87a of Law 7/2020 regarding the Constitutional Court directly related to the position of the Chief and Deputy Chief Justice of the Court, which at that time was held by Justices Anwar Usman and Aswanto.
Meanwhile, the challenge to Article 87b directly related to the interest of Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra, who at that time was under the age of 55.
“In that decision, regarding the review of Article 87a because that norm concerns the positions of the chief justice and deputy chief justice, and at that time, I was the Chief Justice, although it directly concerned myself, I still issued a dissenting opinion,” said Justice Anwar in the non-interactive press briefing.
“Also, the direct interest of Justice Prof. Saldi Isra in Article 87b concerned the age requirement,” he added.
Some of these cases were even decided during Prof. Dr. Jimly Asshiddiqie’s tenure as Chief Justice, such like decisions 004/PUU-1/2003, 066/PUU-II/2004, and 5/PUU-IV/2006, which annulled the Supreme Court’s oversight of Constitutional Court justices.
“So, since Prof. Jimly’s time, starting in 2003, there has been an understanding and explanation regarding conflicts of interest,” Justice Anwar said. During the leadership of Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva, there was also decision 1-2/PUU-XII/2014 that annulled the Constitutional Court regulation.
“Thus, based on the above jurisprudence and applicable legal norms, the question is: as a Constitutional Justice and Chief Justice of the Court, should I disregard previous decisions due to public pressure or certain interests?” Justice Anwar mused. “Logically, it would be very easy for me to simply save myself by abstaining from deciding on such cases.
Because if my intention and that of the constitutional justices were to decide those cases to favor specific candidates, ultimately, it is not us who would have the right to nominate candidates, and it would be the people who determine their voting rights through general elections,” he clarified.
Justice Anwar Usman was previously reported to the Court’s Judicial Conduct Board for alleged conflicts of interest in adjudicating case 90/PUU-XXI/2023 (judicial review of minimum age requirements of presidential candidates) filed by a supporter of Mr. Gibran Rakabuming, Mr. Almas Tsaqibbiru. In that judicial review, the applicant openly identified as a supporter of Mr. Gibran, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo and Justice Anwar Usman’s nephew.
He applied for the amendment of the minimum age requirement of 40 years for presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the Election Law, citing it as a barrier to Mr. Gibran’s participation in the 2024 presidential election. (Then) Chief Justice Anwar Usman not only participated in adjudicating the case, but was also found to have influenced other justices to approve the judicial review.
As a result, the Court’s Judicial Conduct Board had imposed the penalty of dismissing Justice Anwar from the post of Chief Justice as part of its ethics inquiry finding released on Tuesday (11/7/2023).
The Court’s Judicial Conduct Board stated that (then) Chief Justice Anwar had been found to have committed serious violations of the code of ethics and conduct of constitutional justices as provided for in the Court’s Sapta Karsa Hutama (“Seven Noble Principles”) code of ethics principles of impartiality, integrity, competence and equality, independence, as well as appropriateness and decency.
This article is based on: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/23/22160321/anwar-usman-kembali-dilaporkan-ke-mkmk-gara-gara-sebut-jimly-hingga-saldi
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