JAKARTA – The chief justice of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has become the target of an investigation over his failure to recuse himself in a recent ruling that paved the legal way for his nephew — and the son of President Joko Widodo – to run as a vice presidential candidate in next February’s presidential election.
Several civil society groups, including the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), have filed complaints demanding an ethics probe into Chief Justice Anwar Usman and other justices who ruled that elected officials can run for president and vice president regardless of age.
Days after the ruling, presidential candidate and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto chose Solo town mayor Gibran Rakaburning, 36, Widodo’s eldest son, as his running mate in what is shaping up as a tight race against ruling Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) candidate Ganjar Pranowo.
Even members of Prabowo’s own three-party coalition are uncomfortable with the way Gibran was shoe-horned into the position in what critics claim is an effort to secure a Widodo dynasty before his two-term presidency ends in October next year.
PDI-P leader Megawati Sukarnoputri has resisted expelling Gibran from the ruling party he belonged to since embarking on his political career, apparently to eschew an early confrontation with Widodo and to avoid earning sympathy for his son.
But most analysts believe open warfare between the two political heavyweights is inevitable as the country moves closer to election day and pressure mounts on Widodo to end his efforts at maintaining neutrality.
Prabowo sees the highly popular president’s endorsement as key to beating Pranowo in next year’s Valentine’s Day contest, which also involves opposition candidate Anies Baswedan who continues to poll in third place.
Usman did recuse himself in one petition in which the court rejected calls for the age of presidential and vice presidential candidates to be lowered from 40 to 36. But then he joined a majority of justices in a subsequent contradictory vote excluding elected officials from the age limitation.
Legal experts were baffled by the about-face of the country’s highest court, describing the change in the electoral law as bizarre and illogical and benefiting only one person – Gibran.
“A judge should not handle a case that involves their own interests, those of their own family members, relatives or political allies,” said Political Coordinating Minister Mahfud MD, Pranowo’s vice presidential candidate and a former Constitutional Court chief justice himself.
Mahfud said the main task of the Constitutional Court was not to create new laws, a principle the current bench adhered to in refusing to lower the candidacy age, but to annul legislation and regulations that are at odds with the country’s charter.
Usman, 66, was elected to his current post in 2018 following a graft scandal that ended in the dismissal of fellow jurist Patrialis Akbar, which badly tarnished the reputation of an institution that had performed with relative distinction until then.
He and two other justices are parliamentary appointees, three are chosen by the president and three by the Supreme Court with presidential approval ultimately required for all of the appointments.
The Bima, a West Nusa Tenggara native married Widodo’s sister-in-law, Idayati, 57, in May 2022, three years after her first husband died of a stroke. Mahfud felt compelled to explain at the time: “There is no law violation or ethical violation in the chief justice’s plan to get married.”
Seeking to shore up public confidence, the Constitutional Court has now formed a three-person honor council to oversee the work of the nine justices. But legal sources say it will not have the power to reverse the court’s decisions, only to censure the judges on ethical grounds.
“The expectation is they will only get a mild rap on the wrist,” former attorney general Marzuki Darusman told Asia Times. “It’s not going to be a corrective body.”
The new council includes the widely respected Jimly Asshiddiqie, who led the first Constitutional Court between 2003 and 2008, along with Bintan Saragih, a former member of the court’s ethics council, and senior constitutional judge Wahiduddin Adams.
But it will have to prove itself to a skeptical legal community, which clearly has doubts about its ability to respond effectively to public complaints about the court’s actions.
Apart from addressing constitutional issues, the court will also have a crucial role in settling any disputes arising from next year’s presidential and legislative elections, which are likely to be more heated than usual.
That’s why critics are troubled by the fact that Asshiddique is an active supporter of Prabowo’s presidential bid, pointing out that he and the defense minister have been friends since they were young.
“I’m not a member of a party and I haven’t been a member of a party in the past,” Asshiddique told newsmen after his appointment. “But I have supported Prabowo as a presidential candidate.”
Those worried about a potential conflict of interest say he does have a close association with Prabowo’s Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) through his son, Robby Asshiddiqie, who is the party’s deputy secretary general.
“With the current condition of the Constitutional Court and the composition of the honor council, it is difficult to hope for a fair decision if there is a political dispute among election participants,” Yansen Dinata, executive director of the Public Virtue Research Institute (PVRI) was quoted as saying.