PKS: Corruption & Polygamy

Yesterday, the largest Islam based party the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has announced Anis Matta (44) as its new President to replace Luthfi Hasan Iskaq.

Luthfi was named a Suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last Wednesday in a bribery case centering on the government's procurement of imported meat (details here).

This is the second time that a PKS politician implicated in Corruption case after Misbakhun who was found guilty by the courts in 2010 for his involvement in the fake Letter of Credit (LC) of the troubled Bank Century but released after the Supreme Court accepted his request for Judicial Review (details here and here).

In his first speech as PKS President, Anis Matta stated his suspicion that the allegation against Luthfi was part of a grand conspiracy against the party. I think this is a "wild statement" considering that KPK is still conducting investigations on the case. It could be some sort of a "boomerang" if later on the court find him guilty. The best thing for PKS would be to cooperate with KPK in the investigation of this case.

One interesting thing about Anis Matta, formerly the party's Secretary General, is the fact that he is still young compared to chairmen of most political parties, and he has two wives, the second one being a Hungarian lady.

Beside Anis Matta, other PKS leaders also lead the polygamous life style, including its former president Tifatul Sembiring (currently Minister of Communication & Information) who has two wives, its Deputy Treasurer General Didin Aminuddin who has three wives, and its member of Parliament Zulkifliemansyah  who has two wives (details here).

Hmmmm ....... I wonder whether PKS is planing to make Indonesia a Polygamous country ?

Logo :  Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sexual Gratification in Indonesia

On 12 June 2012, former Director of Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau Ng Boon Gay, faced two charges of obtaining Sexual Gratification from the Senior Sales Manager at Oracle Corporation Singapore Pte. on December 2011 as an inducement to help further Oracle's business interests. 

According to Reuters, Ng also faces two other charges of obtaining Sexual Gratification from the same individual when she was an employee of Hitachi Data Systems Ltd. 

The charges against Ng come one week after the former head of Singapore's Civil Defense Force Peter Lim faced 10 Sexual Gratification charges involving three different women working for IT firms in the city state.                                                                                                
Unlike Singapore, where the laws stipulated that Sexual Gratification is a Crime, the laws in Indonesia do not explicitly mention Sexual Gratification as a Corruption Crime (Bribery).

The website of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) quoted the Anti Corruption Law No. 31/ 1999 Article 12B and Law No. 20/2001 : "Any Gratification to a Civil Servant of State Official is regarded as Bribery, if it is connected to his/her position and contradictory to obligation or duty, as follows ....."

Further, the Explanation of said Art. 12 B : "Gratification: is widely defined as any acts of giving money, goods/things, discount, commission, interest free loan, travelling ticket, accommodation, package tour, free medical treatment, and other facility in Indonesia or abroad using manual or electronic facility.

Actually Sexual Gratification if not something strange in Indonesia. The Indonesian Corruption Watch was quoted by Okezone as saying that Sexual Gratification has long existed and often been used in Indonesia.

While the Chief of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD was quoted by Inilah.com as saying that Sexual Gratification may have stronger impact than Money Gratification, therefore he support inclusion of Sexual Gratification in the Anti Corruption Law.  

Although our Law has not regard Sexual Gratification as a Corruption Crime (Bribery), I hope that Marketing people, especially the ladies, would not use Sex as part of  their efforts to win the hearts and the minds of their customers.

Last but not least, I also hope that Sexual Gratification would soon be regarded as a Corruption Crime (Bribery) that is by the amendment of the Anti Corruption Law.

Photo : Courtesy of Photo Search

Tere, the Political Idealist

Political parties have been recruiting public figures especially artists to join them for many decades.

For example former Miss Indonesia Angelina Sondakh (Angie) and singer Theresia Pardede (Tere) who were recruited to join President SBY's Democrat Party, and elected as members of the House of Representatives for the term 2009-2014.

This kind of deal brings a win-win benefit for the artists and the political party. On the one hand, the artist got a chance to have a career as a states-person, therefore they can get lots of money. On the other hand the political party can expect to easily get more popular votes during elections.

The fact that politicians always been reluctant to release their public offices although the Police have named them as suspects in crime, have made me believe that those artists really enjoy their political status and would not want to release it.

           
But now I realized that my above assumption is wrong, that is after Tere (32) told the media last Friday that on 21 May 2012 she has resigned from the House of Representatives and the Democrat Party.

She was quoted as saying that she wants to take care of her father who is suffering heart illness. She is also very sad that Corruption still exist although political Reform (Reformasi) has been carried out 14 years ago.
And as a person who took part in the 1998 students demonstration to support Reformasi, she felt very sad that she cannot do anything to improve all that in her position as member of the House of Representatives.

I really respect Tere's decision to resign from political life, and hope that other artist-turned-politician would follow her path and give lesson to political parties i.e never forget that the main goal of Reformasi is to eliminate Corruption in Indonesia.

Photo : Courtesy of Tempo.

The Arrest of Angie

After he was arrested in Colombia several months ago, Nazaruddin told the Commission for Eradication of Corruption (KPK) that there were some top officials in President SBY's Democrat Party who were involved with him in the alleged Athlete Housing Bribery and other Corruption cases.

Among the names mentioned were Democrat Party Chief Anas Urbaningrum and Deputy Secretary General Angelina Sondakh a.k.a Angie the Miss Indonesia 2001.

Based on this revelation, politicians and the news media urged KPK to immediately investigations on those persons. So, on 3 February 2012, KPK announced Angie as a Suspect based the Anti-Corruption Law.

After that KPK focused on prosecuting Nazaruddin to the Court, and did not seem to take further actions on Angie and the others, which angered politicians.

Last Friday, 27 April 2012, the KPK finally arrested Angie. Suara Karya quoted KPK Spokesman Johan Budi as saying that Angie is arrested for alleged corruption in the Ministry of Education, and she will remain in its custody for 20 days.

Kompas reported that Angie's lawyer Teuku Nasrullah protested the arrest because KPK only issued Investigation Order after the arrest, while actually it should be done before it named Angie as a Suspect more than 2 months ago.

I hope that the arrest of Angie is purely based on legal grounds as stated by KPK, and not merely because of pressures from the news media and politicians.

The Latest Fight Against Corruption

During the trial of Nunun Nurbaeti at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court last Monday, the Prosecutors of the Commission for Eradication of Corruption (KPK) demanded the Court to punish her to four years in Jail, pay Rp 200 Million Fine, and Confiscate the amount of Rp 1 Billion.

Although her lawyers protested, but Nunun looked so happy, this is obvious because the jail term was one year lighter than the maximum ruled by the Anti-Corruption Law. Moreover, the Prosecutor did not mention her effort to avoid legal charges by leaving the country for two and half years.

The 61 years old wife of former Deputy Chief of Police Adang Darajatun is on trial for allegedly bribing 28 members of the House of Representatives with Rp 480 Billion in travelers checks. The checks were given after the members voted for Miranda Gultom in an election for Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Indonesia in 2004.

This is the second time that a Defendant was punished lightly after the Corruption Court sentenced former Treasurer of President SBY's Democrat Party i.e. Nazaruddin to four years and ten months in jail and a fine of Rp 200 Million for receiving Bribe of Rp 4.6 Billion in the Athlete Housing case last Friday.

This Court's sentence was much lighter than demanded by the KPK Prosecutor i.e. seven years in jail and fine of Rp 300 Million.

Beside the above crime, Nazaruddin must still face other legal charges such as the alleged money laundering in the purchase of Garuda Shares, the Hambalang case.

The above mentioned Prosecutors's Demand in Nunun's case and Court Verdict in Nazaruddin's case and other previous Court Verdicts (please click here) show that we are far from winning the fight against Corruption.

We can only hope that in the future the KPK would always do their very best to prepare every Corruption cases properly, obtain strong and convincing evidences before they brought them to the Court, and demand heavier punishments.

I would prefer that KPK's Prosecutor would always demand very heavy penalty, including Life or even Death Sentence, that way the Court can be expected to consider passing heavier Sentences.

Remission for Corruption, Illegal Drug and Terror Criminals

In connection with the Eid Ul-Fitr celebration, the government has been very kind to Criminals who were sentenced to jail by the Courts of Law for their involvement in Corruption, Illegal Drugs and Terrorism.

Tribune News reported that the government has granted Remission (Jail Sentence Discount) to 235 Corruption Criminals (8 released), 6,793 Illegal Drug Criminals (65 released) and 36 Terror Criminals.

This is the second time in one month that the government granted Remission to Corruption Criminals after it granted to many other Corruption Criminals during Independence Day on 17 August 2011.

The granting of Remission has been criticized by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Rakyat Merdeka quoted Johan Budi of KPK as saying that grating of Remission to Corruption Criminals should be restricted considering that Corruption is an extraordinary crime therefore should not be treated ordinarily.

I hope that in the future the government would not grant anymore Remission to Corruption, Illegal Drug and Terror Criminals, so that they would really learn to obey the laws.

Jail Remission for Corruptors

The celebration of independence day has made a bunch of jailed corruptors very happy because they received remission i.e prison term discount, some were even release from jail..

According to Media Indonesia, 427 jailed Corruptors received remission, 19 of them were released from jail,  including former President Director of the Logistics Board (Bulog) Widjanarko Puspoyo, and former President Director of Bank Mandiri ECW Neloe.

The Jakarta Globe reported that Muhammad Misbakhun, lawmaker and member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) was also released from prison earlier today after receiving a two month remission.
The Court sentenced him to one year in jail for falsifying documents to get a US$ 22.5 Million loan from the troubled Bank Century. This sentence is very low compared to the 8 years demanded by the Prosecutor.

The above very low jail sentence, remission and the release of corruptors before they finish their jail sentence  would make us doubt the seriousness of the fight against Corruption. 
I wonder whether ordinary people can also be released from jail like those Corruptors.

Where is Nazaruddin?

Officials of President SBY's ruling Democrat Party have been saying that their ex General Treasurer M. Nazaruddin stayed in Singapore for medical treatment since he left Jakarta on 22 May 2011, the same day that he was removed from his position at the party and hours before a travel ban on him was issued.

Because of this reason, Nazaruddin cannot come when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) wants to question on the allegations about his involvement in the Corruption case at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

But according to Monsters and Critics  Singapore's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Nazaruddin had left 'several weeks ago.' And the Indonesian authorities have been informed of his destination at time of departure and Singapore had no information on his current whereabouts.

'Since Mr Nazaruddin had not been charged with any crime or even named as a suspect at the time he was in Singapore and had a valid Indonesian passport, there was no reason to stop him from entering or leaving the country,' the statement said.

This means that Nazaruddin left Singapore long before he was named a suspect by the KPK on June 30, 2011

Meanwhile, The Jakarta Post reported that President SBY's spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said that the authorities had indeed been informed about Nazaruddin’s departure from Singapore.

He added that President SBY had only found out that Nazaruddin was no longer in Singapore after the Singaporean authorities’ announcement on Tuesday.

Julian insinuated that Nazaruddin was presently in another ASEAN country, but he refused to mention the name of any country, saying that the information was being withheld for intelligence purposes.

Leaked intelligence obtained by the Post showed that Nazaruddin had left Singapore for Malaysia and Vietnam.

All I can say right now is : Oh My God!

iPad, Corruption, Singapore

The producer of iPad is now very lucky because the mass media in Indonesia has been reporting intensively about the tablet computer in the last few days, therefore giving it a free advertisement.

It all started in 2010 when iPad started to enter the Indonesian market from other countries, especially Singapore, through unofficial channels and sold in in the black market.

In spite of the lack of import and sales permits, iPad became popular very quickly and many people want to buy it although illegally. This has attracted the Police to carry out investigation on the people who sold them.

A Police officer disguised as a buyer contacted two vendors, namely Dian Yudha Negara (42) and Randy Lester Samu (29) who advertised the sales of iPad 3G WiFi 64 GB on the local online social media Kaskus and bought two iPads on 23 November 2010.

The iPads were not equipped with certification and manual written in the Indonesian language, so  the Police arrested them and charged them with violating Law No. 8 Regarding the Protection of Consumers, Law No. 36 Regarding Telecommunication, and Regulation of the Minister of Trade regarding electronic products that can be imported. Both of them could face a maximum prison sentence of up to five years.

Dian and Randy then told the Police that they bought the iPads while they were traveling to Singapore, but they cannot show evidence to support this, such as passport and airline ticket.

Now they both are facing trial at the District Court of Central Jakarta. Luckily during the trial today the judges released both of them from detention.

Dian and Randy may have violated the Laws and therefore they may be eligible to face the Court trial they are facing now.

What really surprised me was the very quick action of the law enforcement agencies against both of them, which was very different from the very slow actions against people who have been suspected of Corruption/ Bribery such as Nazaruddin and Nunun Nurbaety which enabled them to runaway to Singapore.

Singapore is a Safe Place to Hide

On 23 May, the Democrat Party dismissed M. Nazaruddin as it's General Treasurer for his alleged role in a Bribery case surrounding a South East Asian Games construction project and an attempt to bribe the Secretary General of of the Constitutional Court Janedri Gaffar with Sing $ 120,000.00.

On 24 May, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) asked the Immigration Office to forbid Nazaruddin from traveling outside Indonesia so as to facilitate investigation on the allegations against him.
Unfortunately, Nazarrudin has departed for Singapore the night before immediately after he was dismissed by his party.

KPK also targeted Nunun Nurbaeti. wife of former Vice Chief of the National Police now a member of the House of Representatives of the Welfare Justice Party (PKS) Adang Darajatun, who has recently been named a Suspect in the Bribery of members of the House of Representatives during the election of Miranda Gultom as the Deputy Chairperson of the Bank Indonesia.

Until now Nunun cannot be questioned because she was reported to be suffering Amnesia, can't remember what happened to her in the past, and before she was named a Suspect Nunun went to Singapore for medical treatment.

Before that, there were other people wanted by the National Police who ran away to Singapore. One of them was ex Tax man Gayus Tambunan who was investigated by the Police for allegations of corruption. Luckily the National Police was able to persuade Gayus to return to Jakarta.

Beside that, there was also Anggodo Wijaya who was found guilty of corruption by the Court in Jakarta, but cannot be jailed because he ran away to Singapore before the authorities arrested him.

The fact that Indonesian and Singapore do not have extradition treaty has made it impossible for Indonesian law enforcement agencies to ask Singapore to turn anyone who broke the laws in Indonesia if they go and hide in Singapore.

However, I hope that  Indonesia and Singapore would soon sign an extradition treaty, especially that both are members of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) which in 2015 will become the ASEAN Community.

Corruption Court for every Provinces

In an effort to increase the efforts to eradicate the widespread corruption in Indonesia, the Supreme Court has planned to build one Corruption Court in every province.

Pos Kota quoted the Chief Justice Harifn Tumpa as saying that at present there are already 18 Coruption Courts in 18 provinces, therefore we still need 12-14 more. And he is very optimistic that they will all be ready by the end of this year, because the budged for that is ready.

Considering that there are so many Corruption cases involving local government officers in the provinces, I agree that the existence of Corruption Courts in every provinces would help expedite the handling of Corruption in those provinces.

In order to do that, the said Courts and local law enforcement agencies should be ready, and highly qualified, tough Court Judges and officers, as well as KPK, Prosecutors and Police must also be available.

Frankly speaking, I am not sure that preparations for all that can be completed within a very short time.

The Court Houses maybe ready by the end of this year, but how about highly qualified and tough Court Judges and officers, and law enforcement officers ?

Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia

Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.

The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.

Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.   

Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.

Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.

I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.

So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country  merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.

A Crime Suspect sworn in as Mayor

Last Friday, Jefferson Rumajar, Mayor of Tomohon, was sworn in to serve his second term in office, and Jimmy Eman as Deputy Mayor.

The ceremony took place at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Jakarta, because since September Rumajar has been detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as Suspect in a Corruption case that is now being tried at a Court in Jakarta.
  
After the ceremony, Rumajar, member of the Golkar Party,  returned to jail to induct 28 officials of the town of Tomohon, North Sulawesi.

Rumajar told reporters that although he will be in jail until the Court determine his legal status, however there will not be any problem because Deputy Mayor Jimmy Eman who will serve as Acting Mayor.

Meanwhile, Governor of North Sulawesi Sarundayang said that Rumajar will be suspended from his position as Mayor and Jimmy Eman shall become Acting Mayor. He also said that the induction of 28 officials by Rumajar was not legitimate.

The induction of a crime suspect is possible based on the Chief of Region Law 20044 which adopted the concept of Presumption of Innocent i.e a person is assumed innocent until there is a final court verdict which  determine otherwise.
In this case, Rumajar's position as Mayor will be determined after there is a final Court Verdict. If he is found guilty, his position shall be canceled, otherwise he would be be an effective Mayor.

The above shows that the sworn in of a Crime Suspect to serve as a Mayor has created uncertainty on who will lead the town, therefore should be avoided. For which purpose, I hope that Crime Suspects should not be allowed to participate as candidate in elections.

For details on the above, please read the following articles ::
-  Graft Suspect Made Mayor in North Sulawesi (The Jakarta Globe)
-  Graft-suspect incumbent sworn in as Tomohon Mayor (The Jakarta Post)
-  Walikota Tomohon Dinonaktifkan (Metrotv)

 Photo: Courtesy of Media Palu

International Anti-Corruption Day

On 31 October 2003, the United Nation General Assembly adopted the Convention against Corruption which became effective in December 2005.

                         Credit: UNDOC

In order to raise awareness of Corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it, the U.N General Assembly has declared that 9 December as the International Anti-Corruption Day.

I hope that the government, the parliament, the judicial bodies and the Corruption fighters in Indonesia would increase their efforts to eradicate Corruption in Indonesia.  

Source :  United Nations website.

The New Chief Corruption Fighter

  

Busyro Muqoddas has been elected by the House of Representatives Commission III as the Chief of Corruption Erradication Commission (KPK).

Out of 55 members of the Commission III, which oversees Legal Affairs, 34 have voted for Busyro, current Chief of the Judicial Commission, 20 voted for Bambang Widjajanto, Lawyer, 1 abstained.


According to The Jakarta Globe, Busyro has impressed House members with his desire to see stronger punishment for those convicted for corruption and his proposal to make Corruption a Human Rights violation rather than just an ordinary Crime.

Although Busyro would only be Chief of KPK for a period of one year, however I hope that he would be able to do his job smoothly.

Expensive Elections

Since 2005, provincial governors, town/city mayors and heads of regencies in Indonesia are directly elected by the people in their provinces/regents/cities..

After that, many governors, mayors and heads of regents have been brought to trial in courts for corruption charges.

In a talk show held by the Jakarta Lawyers Club at TVOne last night, the master of ceremony Karni Ilyas told the audience that since the direct election there were 17 provincial Governors and 150 mayors/regents who have been tried in Court on charges of Corruption.

Gamawan Fauzi, Minister of Home Affairs and former Governor of West Sumatra, the main speaker of teh show, acknowledged the correlationship between the said direct election and corruption.
He said that this is obvious because in order to be an eligible election candidate, one must meet the standard requirements and supported by a political party or group of political parties that have a minimum of 15% seats in the local parliament.

For which purpose, the candidate must have access to lots of money to get support from political party (-ies), for campaign logistics and rallies, for advertisements on the news media, for withness fees, etc.

The Minister estimated that in order to be elected, a candidate governor should spend around 50 Billion up to 100 Billion Rupiah, which is so many times very high compared to the basic salary of 8,7 Million Rupiah that he will receive as Governor. Note :  Beside basic salary, a governor would receive additional money so many times more for attending meetings etc, for clothes, receive benefits like official home, cars, 

Considering that Indonesia is a Unitary State, whereby provincial governors are representatives of the central government in Jakarta, I felt that it would be better if governors are nominated by the central government and elected by the parliaments of each provinces, just like before 2005. That way excessive spending of money for campaign would not be necessary anymore, and corruption can be prevented or at least be minimized.

Sources :
-  Pemilihan Umum kepala daerah dan wakil kepala daerah (Wikipedia)
-  Gamawan Fauzi: Pilkada Mahal Sebabkan Korupsi (TVOne)

Photo: Courtesy of UDFL.

Who must be blamed for Police Corruption ?

According to Wikipedia, Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest.

However, as many other things in life, Police Corruption can also be defined differently. Because like they use to say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. 

In this regards, I would like to share with you an article in The Jakarta Globe about who must be blamed for Police Corruption. 

Indonesian Police General Blames Public for Corrupt Force
Ulma Haryanto & Antara | November 02, 2010
 

 

 Jakarta. The public was to blame for corruption within the police force, Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, head of the National Police General Supervision Inspectorate, said on Tuesday.
Read More ..

Death Penalty for Corruption Criminals

Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD seems to be very sick and tired of the efforts that has been made to eradicate corruption in Indonesia that he proposed Death Penalty for those who are guilty of committing Crime of Corruption.

Please find below a news article that I have quoted from Kompas.

I hope that the Chief Justice's statement is sincere, not just some sort of lips service for whatever reason he may have.

Judge:

Indonesia Needs Death Penalty for Graft

Minggu, 17 Oktober 2010 | 02:27 WIB

Indonesian laborers burn an effigy of a rat symbolizing corruption during a May Day rally outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday May 1, 2010. Tens of thousands of workers thronged the streets of Asian cities Saturday in annual May Day marches, demanding job creation and minimum wage hikes. Writings on the effigy say "Corruptors Regime".
 

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — Indonesia needs to follow China’s example and sentence officials convicted of corruption to death in order to stamp out massive graft in the country, a top judge said Saturday. Indonesia’s current sentences for corruption are too soft and do nothing to deter corrupt officials, said Mohammad Mahfud, the chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

Officials “are sentenced to only three to four year in jail, which is lighter than sentences given to petty criminals,” Mahfud said.   He advocated the use of a provision in Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Law that allows judges to sentence convicts to death. It has never been used.

“In China, which carries out the death sentence for those convicted of corruption charges, there is a deterrent effect,” he said. “If death sentences were used in Indonesia for corruption, it would reduce the cases.”
     
China is trying to reduce the number of crimes that get the death penalty, but a legislator last month said China’s lawmakers have never considered dropping the death penalty for corruption. People convicted of corruption should be subject to harsh penalties, lawmaker Chen Sixi said in an online chat with citizens, according to the People’s Daily newspaper.
     
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been widely credited for the success of an anti-corruption campaign that started after he took office in 2004. Scores of corrupt politicians, entrepreneurs and law enforcement officials have been tried and convicted, including the father-in-law of one of the Yudhoyono’s sons.

According to advocacy group Transparency International’s corruption index, Indonesia ranks 111th out of 180 countries.

The Controversial Sentence Remission

As in previous years, during the commemoration of Indonesia's Independence on 17 August, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) granted Sentence Remission i.e. reduction of jail term, to many people who are serving jail sentence.

This remission has enabled many of the inmates to be released from jail before their time.

This year's decision has caused strong protests from many people, because many of the released inmates were people who were jailed for Corruption, including the father in law SBY's son.
Some members of the House of Representatives have even proposed to end Sentence Remission as reported by The Jakarta Globe (below).

Considering the above I hope that in the future decision to grant Sentence Remission would be done more carefully based on the best interest of the people and country, and not on personal and/or group interests.

Legislators Differ Over Call To End Sentence Remissions
Anita Rachman | August 23, 2010

Haris Rusly of pro-democracy group Petisi 28 files a protest to the president via the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights regarding the ease with which clemency is granted to graft convict. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Jakarta. A call to cut out a host of clemency options currently enjoyed by corruption convicts has drawn a mixed reaction from the House of Representatives, which has produced a fair amount of such convicts over the years.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, from the ruling Democratic Party, said that denying graft convicts sentence reductions, presidential pardons, parole or social reintegration programs would require amending the entire 2006 Corrections Law under which they are regulated.

“While it’s possible, it’s not as simple as some might think,” he said on Monday.

“I’m not going to take sides before we hold a discussion on the issue and hear what the legal experts have to say about it.”

On Sunday, legislators from House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, proposed discussing the ban for corruption convicts.

Those making the call include Tjatur Sapto Edy of the National Mandate party (PAN), who is the commission’s deputy chairman, and Golkar legislators Nudirman Munir and Bambang Soesatyo.

The issue came to the fore last week following the early release of several high-profile corruption convicts, including former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s eldest son.

Aulia had only a day earlier also been granted a remission, or sentence cut, in commemoration of Independence Day on Aug. 17.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, from Golkar, said he supported the ban to prevent giving graft convicts a “Get-out-of-jail-free” card.

“As long as it doesn’t affect clemency articles in the Constitution, I believe it’s worth looking at the ban,” he said.

He added the controversy spawned by the seemingly favorable treatment given to graft convicts should serve as a wake-up call for the government to punish corruptors more harshly.

However, Anis Matta, a deputy House speaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that while the proposed changes should be evaluated, he warned against rescinding all options for clemency for graft convicts.

He argued that much of the bad publicity was based on isolated cases and that such lenient treatment was the exception rather than the rule.

“Personally, I back only the call to phase out the option of remissions,” Anis said.

He added that in some cases, the graft convicts were themselves “merely victims,” but declined to elaborate.

“Even if we do get rid of remissions, we should be prepared to make exceptions in certain cases,” he said, again declining to say what those cases were.

However, Bambang said that the proposal was relevant to the current state of the corrections system, adding that Commission III would seek to push it into the law books.

“At their trials, these criminals get the minimum sentence, then when they’re eligible for it, they get the maximum remission,” he said.

“What does that say about the system?”

He added that ending remissions, parole and reintegration programs would ensure that corruption convicts were “truly punished” for their crimes.

Anggodo vs. KPK Leaders

The faith of those who are directly or indirectly involved in corruption can be better than those who are fighting corruption.

That's what I thought when I read on The Jakarta Globe that the District Court of South Jakarta has accepted the petition filed by Corruption Suspect Anggodo Widjaya for cancellation of the Attorney General Office's decision to discharge Vice Chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) i.e. Chandra Hamzah and Bibid S. Waluyo from prosecution.

With this Court's decision, the Attorney General Office will have to revive its Prosecution against both KPK leaders.

April 19, 2010

Jakarta Globe

Anggodo Widjojo in this file photo outside the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The controversial businessman and graft suspect is back, at that is bad news for KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah. (Antara Photo)

Anggodo Revives Prosecution of KPK Deputies 

Corruption suspect Anggodo Widjojo has been able to revive the controversial and allegedly bogus criminal case against respected Corruption Eradication Commission deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah.

The South Jakarta District Court on Monday accepted a motion filed by Anggodo — the brother of fugitive businessman Anggoro — against the decision of the Attorney General’s Office to abandon its prosecution of Bibit and Chandra.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had publically urged that the hugely unpopular prosecutions be abandoned in the wake of public outrage and the findings of a presidential task force that concluded the charges were part of an alleged conspiracy involving elements of the AGO, National Police and Anggodo himself to bring down the commission, also known as the KPK.

Bibit and Chandra were initially charged with abuse of power and allowing Anggoro to flee to Singapore but it was widely acknowledged that little evidence existed.

Prosecutors, on the back foot last year, said at the time that prosecuting the deputies would be more “harmful than beneficial to bring the bribery case to the court.”

Anggodo challenged the AGO’s argument, saying that public pressure had been applied in reaching the decision, which was not in accordance with the Criminal Procedures Code and therefore violated the law.

The decision to revive the prosecution was made by the sole Judge Nugroho Setyadi.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi was not immediately available for comment.