Indonesian President Widodo's brother-in-law demoted as top judge over age minimum ruling

Jakarta [Indonesia], November 8 : Indonesian President, Joko Widodo's brother-in-law, a top judge has been found guilty of "gross violation" of the court's ethics code for failing to recuse himself from the court's decision to reduce age limits for presidential and vice presidential candidates, reported Al-Jazeera.

Anwar Usman, the judge in question, was demoted after he was found guilty of a conflict of interest in a ruling last month. The ruling, with a five-four majority, enabled President Widodo's 36-year-old eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run for vice president alongside 72-year-old Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party.

The ruling stated that a minimum age requirement of 40 need not apply to election candidates who had previously held elected office. The ruling was made just days before the start of registration for the 2024 election.

This decision led to public outcry, with an ethics panel finding that Anwar "was proven to have violated judges' ethical code specifically the principle of neutrality and integrity as he did not recuse himself", reported Al Jazeera.

It said, without elaborating, that Anwar "had purposely opened a room for intervention from an external party" and thus "violated the principle of independence".

The ethics panel does not have the power to revert the outcome of the case, yet it said that Anwar could remain one of the court's nine judges but must not take part in any election cases in which he could have a conflict of interest.

Former Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, who led the three-member panel, said that Usman must recuse himself from deciding election result disputes that pose "a potential conflict of interest".

Asshiddiqie, also said that Usman will lose the eligibility to nominate himself or be nominated by other justices to chair the court until his term ends, Al Jazeera has reported.

Some believe that this decision is not severe enough, panel member Bintan R Saragih in a dissenting opinion, said Usman should be "dishonourably dismissed" from his position as a court justice due to his gross violation of the court's ethics code.

Asshiddiqie, speaking after the council's decision announcement said they had decided against firing Usman as a court justice judge as it would require the establishment of an appeals panel, whilst creating uncertainty ahead of the elections, on February 14 2024.

"We need certainty to not create problems that could result in the election process that is not peaceful," he said.

Anwar Usman's successor as Chief Justice will be elected by the nine-member constitutional court over the next two days.

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