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The State Palace has announced a moratorium on sentence reductions to corruption and terrorism convicts following recent public criticism of the practice.

Denny Indrayana, the presidential adviser on legal affairs, said on Thursday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered the freeze in order to “strengthen the deterrent effect for organized criminals,” including those convicted of corruption and terrorism.

“Therefore, he has agreed that sentence reductions or remissions for corruptors and terrorists should be stopped,” he said.

No details were given on when the moratorium would start or how long it would last.

The freeze is expected to be imposed pending an amendment of the Corrections Law, which is the basis for handing out remissions and sentence reductions.

Denny confirmed that the move was in line with ongoing plans to amend the law.

“This move will make [the law] more in line with the antigraft spirit,” he said.

The Yudhoyono administration has recently come under criticism from antigraft activists, who claim its drive to tackle corruption is flagging. As evidence, they cite the lenient sentences handed down to perpetrators and the raft of early release options — including remissions, parole and assimilation programs.

The Justice and Human Rights Ministry’s recent announcement that some corruption convicts had received sentence reductions for Idul Fitri was heavily criticized by antigraft activists and the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Busyro Muqoddas.

Last month, 44,600 Muslim prisoners nationwide received remissions for Idul Fitri. Among them were an indeterminate number of corruption convicts, despite Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar previously saying they should be excluded from the sentence cuts because of the severity of their crimes.

Also last month, in commemoration of Independence Day on Aug. 17, some 33,000 prisoners across the country received remissions. Among them were 440 corruption convicts. Prior to Independence Day, Patrialis said that notorious bribery convict Gayus Tambunan would also receive a remission because his crime could not be considered corruption.

However, he backtracked on his statement a day later, claiming that he said no such thing, and had been misquoted by reporters.

Following public criticism of the remission policy, Patrialis said earlier this month that he would seek an amendment to the Corrections Law on the issue of remissions for corruptors and terrorists.

The amended draft is expected to be soon submitted by the ministry to the House of Representatives for deliberation.

Saldi Isra, a legal expert at Andalas University in Padang, said the ministry’s willingness to amend the law should be welcomed, but close scrutiny was important.

“We have to monitor the substance [of the amended draft],” he said.