June 22, 2013 · 16:53

Fox in the Henhouse? New Judicial Commission appointees (Indonesia)

According to The Jakarta Post, the Indonesian Judicial Commission has received new leadership. Suparman Marzuki, a lecturer at the Indonesia Islamic University in Yogyakarta, will replace current chairman Eman Suparman (no relation). What’s interesting is that Marzuki seems ready to push the commission into a more activist role. Marzuki, also a former rights activist, has vowed to crack down on rogue judges.

However, he might face opposition from his new deputy, former Supreme Court justice Abbas Said. Said was amongst the justices who successfully asked the Constitutional Court to strip the Commission of its enforcement powers.

I suspect the pairing of Marzuki and Said was meant to balance reformist and conservative tendencies. According to the Constitution, commission members are ultimately appointed by the president with DPR consent. However, leadership within the Judicial Commission is agreed upon by the 7 Commission members. Thus, the big question going forward is which camp has more support amongst the staff of the Judicial Commission.

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Filed under indonesia, judicial commission

June 5, 2013 · 18:07

Water for sale (Indonesia)

(Jakarta Post)

Back in 2005, the Indonesian Constitutional Court ruled that Jakarta’s water privatization scheme did not violate Article 33 of the Constitution, which mandates that “land and water and natural resources… shall be controlled and shall be used for the greatest prosperity for the people” (see decision here; for more about water rights in Indonesia and the case, see this law review article).

However, some NGOs remain dissatisfied with the situation. Recently, the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ) filed a lawsuit against city water operator PAM Jaya and its partners. According to The Jakarta Post, activists complain that the company charges excessive rates that price the poor out.

One interesting aspect to the case is that Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has already announced that he hopes to buy French company Suez Environment’s 51% share in one of the partners, Palyja. It will be interesting to see if his intention influences the court and the interaction between his administration and the litigants.

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Filed under environmental, indonesia, water

June 5, 2013 · 17:46

Myanmar Supreme Court website! (Myanmar/Burma)

Myanmar’s Supreme Court has just created a website. It’s a slick design and already contains the 2011 Myanmar Law Reports and a recent volume of the Judicial Journal. Definitely worth bookmarking.

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June 4, 2013 · 02:14

Do Dems want Mahfud?

I’ve previously suggested that the Democratic Party’s primary might give former Mahkamah Konstitusi chief justice Mahfud MD an opportunity to ferry his considerable public support onto a major party ticket. Now, according to The Jakarta Post, senior Democratic Party officials have expressed interest in having Mahfud compete in the primary.

Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Max Sopacua said, “We are open to anyone, Anies Baswedan, Mahfud MD, everybody, they can apply. We have a selection process but we already know that those two individuals are credible.”

Mahfud himself has not made any declarations yet. He has expressed skepticism of some of the country’s Islamic parties, suggesting that their leadership is corrupt. The Democratic Party seems like the best fit. However, as is clear in the rest of the article, the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to have come to a consensus on its preferred candidate. In fact, many PD members want to recruit Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, currently a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Less clear is whether PD can still aggressively recruit outsiders given that candidates have to compete in the primary system. Would Mahfud join PD in the chance that he might win the nomination? Would Jokowi jump ship for the stronger organizational resources of PD versus the more guaranteed nomination in PDI-P? I’m sure there the party is negotiating with potential candidates behind-the-scenes, but just over a year away it seems as difficult as ever to predict who will win Indonesia’s 2014 presidential election.

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Filed under indonesia, Mahfud, president

May 22, 2013 · 03:52

RIP Justice? Too Soon? (Indonesia)

University of Indonesia students march on Merdeka Palace, asking the government to crack down on corruption…

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