Jakarta. In 2019, the Judicial Commission received 1,544 reports of alleged ethical code violations by judges, down from 1,722 last year, the commission revealed on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta, the commission's head of supervision and investigation Sukma Violetta said the majority of the complaints (893) were delivered by post, 286 submitted in person, 281 lodged online and 84 were tip-offs followed up by the commission. 

Almost half of them (686) were complaints related to civil cases.

There were also 464 complaints involving criminal cases, 90 involving religious cases, 82 involving state administration irregularities and 50 involving corruption cases. 

The rest involved industrial disputes, elections and trade disputes.

However, only 224 reports were able to be processed by the commission this year, mostly because the Judicial Commission did not have authority over some of the cases, or people who made the reports refused to reveal their identities. 

Sanction Recommendations

Nevertheless, the commission had issued sanction recommendations for 130 judges who were found to have violated their profession's code of ethics and conduct (KEPPH).

The sanction recommendations were passed on to the Supreme Court to be implemented. 

According to Sukma, the judges were given either a mild, moderate or severe sanction. A severe sanction might take the form of honorable or dishonorable discharge. 

However, only 10 of the commission's recommendations were followed up by the Supreme Court.