SBY’s anti-corruption commitment tested by bills

JAKARTA. Activists reiterated on Sunday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should prove his anti-corruption commitment by withdrawing the Criminal Code (KUHP) and Code of Criminal Procedures (KUHAP) revision bills currently being deliberated in the House of Representatives and instead draft new bills that strengthen antigraft efforts.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) activist Tama S. Langkun said the chance to cancel the amendments to the two bills was still open.

“It is possible for the government to retract the bills they have drafted, scrap the provisions that could weaken the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] and submit the new and revised drafts to the House,” he said.

“The government is allowed to do that, but the question is: does the President have the willingness to do so?”

Tama acknowledged that the obsolete KUHP and KUHAP laws needed urgent revisions. “But the problem is that new bills have contentious articles that seem to be aimed at weakening the KPK,” he said.

In the KUHAP bill being deliberated at the House, for example, the right of law enforcement agencies to perform preliminary investigations has been removed.

He suggested that there should be a clear red line that the KUHP and KUHAP only applied to general crimes.

“The three extraordinary crimes, namely terrorism, drug abuse and corruption, must be exempt from the new KUHP and KUHAP. The three crimes should be regulated under specific laws because of their extraordinary nature,” Tama said.

Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin has repeatedly opposed the plan to withdraw the bills. He has instead accused the KPK of playing a political game by raising support from civil society and social media.

Last week, the KPK officially called on the President and the House to drop the ongoing deliberation of the bills. (BT Saragih)