Nivell Rayda

Fahmi Badoh, left, of Indonesia Corruption Watch, talking with a security officer while holding a giant ‘cotton bud’ at the House of Representatives on Monday. The group was intending to ask the House to ‘listen’ to the public. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)

Indonesia May Pass Disputed Anti-Corruption Bill Today

The House of Representatives appears set to pass the contentious Anti-Corruption Court bill during a plenary session today, on the eve of the end of its term.

Lawmakers were expected to pass the bill despite widespread public criticism in recent weeks and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s statement two weeks ago that the bill should not be rushed.

National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker Arbab Paproeka, who chairs the House working committee deliberating the bill, said it would be presented for approval because there were no changes made to the latest version of the draft.

In its current form, the bill would strip the respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of its authority to prosecute graft suspects and enable fewer non-career judges to sit on the Anti-Corruption Court, raising worries about a loss of independence.

On Sept. 16, Yudhoyono said: “Do not force [the bill] if there is still the feeling that some crucial problems have not been properly addressed.”

On Monday, the House special committee met behind closed doors with the government, represented by Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalatta, to discuss the latest version of the legislation.

Tamimun Ullah, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said his party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) both strongly opposed the provision that all graft cases at the court must be handled by the prosecutor’s office, stripping the KPK of the power to prosecute cases.

“The discussion at this level has failed to yield any agreement, so the next option would be to vote on the bill,” he said.

Both the PKS and the PKB are minority parties. Major parties such as Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) support stripping the KPK of its power to prosecute.

The KPK was established in 2003 as a direct response to the failure of the police and the Attorney General’s Office to tackle corruption. It has compiled a 100 percent conviction rate, sending many high-profile officials to prison for corruption. It has prosecuted eight lawmakers, several former top Bank Indonesia officials, including an in-law of Yudhoyono.

In sharp contrast, the prosecutor’s office has lost 49 percent of its graft cases, and halted 11 percent of them before even bringing them to trial.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2006 that the House must pass new legislation creating a legal basis for the Anti-Corruption Court by Dec. 19 or risk stripping the court of its legitimacy.

In a symbolic gesture on Monday, representatives from Indonesia Corruption Watch presented a giant cotton bud to the House ethics committee as they filed a complaint against Arbab and Golkar lawmaker Dewi Asmara Oetojo, chairwoman of the overseeing committee, for what it said was their failure to “listen” to the public on the issue.

ICW representatives gave the cotton bud to the ethics committee chairman, Irsyad Sudiro of the Golkar Party. They also gave Irsyad a four-page report alleging that Arbab and Dewi had deliberated the bill with a lack of transparency.

The group said Arbab’s appointment as chairman of the working committee was illegal because a quorum was not reached. “The law requires at least half of the members to be present, making the substance of the bill illegal,” ICW deputy chairman Emerson Yuntho said.

He added that ICW would file a request for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court if the bill passed.

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