SBY mediates BPK, MA dispute settlement

JAKARTA (JP): The financial audit dispute between the Supreme Court (MA) and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) did not last long as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took the initiative Saturday to summon the quarreling chairmen of both institutions and mediated for a settlement.

The meeting at the Presidential Office was chaired by the President and attended by Chief Justice Bagir Manan and BPK chairman Anwar Nasution, with Constitutional Court (MK) chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie and a number of Cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials as witnesses.

The meeting concluded that the court's administrative fees, which were disputed by both paramount institutions, were not categorized as tax revenues, but were subject to an audit.

"The government will soon issue regulations on the administrative fees, including its criteria and management. The Supreme Court will then issue an internal regulation and make (necessary bookkeeping) adjustment so that the Agency could audit the funds," Yudhoyono said.

"So, the audit for this year's administrative fees bookkeeping can be conducted early next year," the President added.

Yudhoyono said such conflict might appear during the ongoing reform in the country's justice system, especially regarding the restructuring in the state financial system in order to have a system which is transparent and accountable to the public.

"What's important is to find a systemic solution immediately, not a compromising one, so the government activities can continue to run," he said.

Legislator Gayus Lumbuun of the House of Representatives' legal commission, however, viewed the President's initiative to bring the two chairmen to the meeting as inappropriate, saying that the institutional dispute should have been brought to the Constitutional Court, instead.

"Yudhoyono's initiative can only heal the pain, but not the wound. Such an institutional conflict cannot be politically settled by the country's highest institution, including the President," Gayus said.

"Therefore, the conflict should be settled through a legal process (at the Constitutional Court).