President Agrees To Recruit More Judges

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has agreed to the Supreme Court's request to recruit more judges for district and appellate courts, Supreme Court Chief Justice Hatta Ali said.

"The president has agreed to it and we will soon recruit new judges," Hatta said in a press briefing at the Supreme Court Building here on Tuesday.

The new judges will be stationed in 37 regions across the country, he said.

While delivering the Supreme Court's annual report on Thursday (February 9), Hatta said the country needs 12,847 judges based on the work program in 2015, while the number of judges across the country currently reaches 7,989.

This means that the country runs a short of 4,858 judges for district and appellate courts, not to mention the demand for judges to work with 86 new working units at general courts, religious courts and state administrative courts, he said.

The Supreme Court chief justice went on to say that the country also runs a short of 9,735 substitute clerks to meet the need for 19,950 clerks.

Therefore, he expressed the hope that the government will recruit two thousand new judges this year.  (WDY)