JAKARTA - The Indonesian Constitutional Court’s ethics panel on Tuesday found Chief Justice Anwar Usman guilty of an ethics violation over an earlier controversial ruling that enabled his nephew – the son of President Joko Widodo – to run for vice-president in the 2024 election.
The panel said he should have withdrawn himself from a review of the minimum age and eligibility criteria for running and the subsequent ruling, among other breaches. It ordered Mr Anwar, who is the President’s brother-in-law, to step down as the court’s top judge, although he can still remain as one of its nine judges.
The panel also found Mr Anwar and the other eight judges guilty of not acting against the conflict of interest in the ruling.
The court had ruled in October that those aged below 40 can run for president or vice-president in the upcoming polls on Feb 14, 2024, provided they have served as elected regional leaders.
This removed the barrier for 36-year-old Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka to join the race as Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto’s running mate.
They registered their candidacy at the General Elections Commission on Oct 25, but the move ignited a public outcry against nepotism and dynastic politics, which observers saw as a setback to Indonesia’s democratic reforms after the fall of strongman Suharto 25 years ago. It was also a blow to Mr Widodo, widely seen as a reform-minded leader.
Former Constitutional Court judge Jimly Asshiddiqie, who led the panel, said Mr Anwar was guilty of committing “serious violations” of the court’s code of ethics and code of conduct, as well as other principles such as impartiality and integrity.
As a result, he will be “dishonourably discharged” as Chief Justice and barred from adjudicating cases related to general elections, Mr Jimly added.
But panel member and law professor Bintan Saragih expressed a dissenting opinion, saying Mr Anwar must be removed altogether as a Constitutional Court judge, given the severe ethical violations.
Most of the 21 reports lodged with the court pointed to ethical violation by Mr Anwar, Mr Jimly said. The panel’s investigations found that Mr Anwar supported a petition advocating the exemption of the minimum age for elected regional leaders, but was absent in other petitions against the exemption.
Some analysts said the panel’s decision would not affect Mr Gibran’s bid to run, as it dealt only with the ethical breaches involved in the court ruling.
Mr Widodo – popularly known as Jokowi – has yet to comment on the panel’s finding, but he had earlier declined to comment on the court’s ruling, fearing that his opinion would be misunderstood as “interfering with the judicial authority”.
An election law expert from the University of Indonesia, Ms Titi Anggraini, said the panel’s ruling, however, could serve as a new “legal fact or condition”, which might be used in new challenges to the minimum age and the eligibility of elected regional leaders.
“With the decision on the ethical breach, it now becomes clear that the guilty Chief Justice cannot be involved in a new review on the age limit clause,” she told The Straits Times.
She added that Mr Gibran’s candidacy could be affected if the court issued a new ruling in response to appeals and new complaints from members of the public. But the chance of that is slim, due to the limited time before Polling Day.
“The only option for the public is to take into account the current developments to determine their votes in the presidential election. This is a bitter pill that we have to swallow,” Ms Titi said.
