President’s Empty Promises: Indonesian Court Says No to Restrictions on Remissions for Corruption Convicts

08.03.2012

All that talk by the Yudhoyono administration about getting tough on corruption took another hit on Wednesday when a Jakarta court threw out an attempt to make it more difficult for graft convicts to have their sentences cut.
The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights had issued a decree outlining stricter requirements for corruption suspects to receive the kinds of sentence reductions that are handed out on some holidays.
But the decree was successfully challenged in the Jakarta State Administrative Court, which said imposing tighter requirements for corruptors “violates existing laws and the principle of good governance.”
Corruptors, the court said, should not be discriminated against in obtaining remissions.
The policy was enacted shortly after Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin and his deputy minister, Denny Indrayana, took office last year. Amir’s predecessor, Patrialis Akbar, had been criticized for being overly generous in cutting sentences.

The policy, while welcomed by antigraft watchdogs and activists, caused an uproar among legislators because it resulted in graft convict Paskah Suzetta, a former legislator and minister, being sent back to jail just moments after he was released early thanks to a remission.
Several members of House Commission III, overseeing legal affairs, went so far as to boycott hearings with the minister. Last month, lawmakers even pushed for a formal inquiry of the decree.

The challenge to the decree was lodged by former Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in the name of eight corruption convicts: Ahmad Hafiz Zawawi, Bobby Satrio Hardiwibowo Suhardiman, Mulyono Subroto, Hesti Andi Tjahyanto, Agus Wijayanto Legowo, H. Ibrahim and Hengky Baramuli. Yusril is also implicated in a graft scandal.
After Wednesday’s ruling, Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said Amir and Denny “must resign as minister and deputy minister now that the court has ruled against” the decree.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the president must punish Amir and Denny as “the court ruling suggests that the justice minister broke the law.”
Amir and Denny said separately that they respected the ruling and would abide by it.
But Denny also said he “regretted that the court was unable to capture the public’s desire that sentence cuts and conditional releases no longer be easily distributed to corruptors.”
Indonesia Corruption Watch lashed out at the ruling, calling it a “bad footnote in the battle against corruption in Indonesia.”
Febridiansyah, ICW’s legal researcher, said the verdict made it seem that the administrative court was legitimizing the provision of perks to corruptors.
Corruptors, he added, should get heavier sentences than other criminals because their crimes hurt so many people.
“They are already handed light sentences and given discounts on top of that. How can one talk about corruption eradication?” he said.