A judicial panel in Indonesia has demoted the country’s top judge after finding him guilty of a conflict of interest in a ruling last month that allowed President Joko Widodo’s son to run for vice-president.
Anwar Usman, who is the president’s brother-in-law, was found guilty of a ‘gross violation’ of the court’s code of ethics for failing to recuse himself from the court’s ruling on age limits for presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
The five-to-four ruling paved the way for Widodo’s 36-year-old eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to run for vice president alongside Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
Anwar “was found to have violated the code of ethics for judges, in particular the principle of neutrality and integrity, by failing to recuse himself,” the ethics panel said.
It said, without elaborating, that Anwar had “deliberately opened a space for the intervention of an external party” and thus “violated the principle of independence”.
The panel, which cannot change the outcome of the case, said Anwar could remain one of the court’s nine judges but could not take part in any election case in which he might have a conflict of interest.
The panel was asked to investigate the judges’ conduct amid a public outcry after they ruled that a minimum age of 40 did not apply to election candidates who had previously held elected office.
The ruling came just days before the start of registration for the 2024 elections.
The panel also reprimanded the other eight judges for breaching the code of ethics, including allowing Anwar to take part in the decision.
Former Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, who headed the three-member panel, said Usman could not nominate himself or be nominated by other judges to chair the court until the end of his term.
He will also have to recuse himself from deciding on disputes over election results that pose a “potential conflict of interest”, Asshiddique added.
Usman’s successor as chief justice will be elected by the nine-member Constitutional Court over the next two days.
In a dissenting opinion, panel member Bintan R Saragih said Usman should be “dishonourably dismissed” from his position as a judge in light of his gross violation of the court’s code of ethics.
After reading the council’s decision, Asshiddiqie said they had decided against dismissing Usman as a judge because it would require the establishment of an appeals panel and create uncertainty ahead of the elections.
“We need certainty so as not to create problems that could lead to a non-peaceful election process,” he said.
The choice of Gibran, currently mayor of the city of Surakarta (Solo), as his vice-presidential running mate has fuelled criticism in Indonesia that Widodo is trying to create a political dynasty in the world’s third-largest democracy.
Widodo is finishing his second and final term in office and has not formally endorsed a candidate.