Chief Justice in Indonesia Dismissed Due to Ethics Breach
An Indonesian judicial panel has removed Chief Justice Anwar Usman from his position following a verdict that found him guilty of violating ethics in a ruling that enabled President Joko Widodo’s son to run for the vice presidency. Usman, who is also Widodo’s brother-in-law, was found to have committed a “gross violation” of the court’s ethics code, as he was part of a 5-4 majority decision that altered the rules for presidential and vice-presidential candidacy. This ruling, which occurred just months before the general elections in February, allowed Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to run for vice president alongside Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
The judicial panel’s investigation found that Usman had failed to “recuse himself from the examination and decision-making process,” thereby violating the “principle of neutrality” within the judge’s ethical code. Former chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, who led the three-member panel, announced that Usman was dismissed from his role as the constitutional court’s chief justice, although he was allowed to retain his position as a justice. Usman is now ineligible to nominate himself or be nominated by other justices to chair the court until his term concludes, and he must also recuse himself from deciding on election result disputes that may present a potential conflict of interest.
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 argued that Usman should be “dishonourably dismissed” from his position as a court justice due to his gross violation of the court’s ethics code. Asshiddiqie, when announcing the panel’s decision, noted that they had chosen not to terminate Usman as a court justice, as this would necessitate the establishment of an appeals panel and create uncertainty in the lead-up to the elections.
