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Last Updated: Jul 2, 2009 - 9:39:25 AM |
JAKARTA - The conviction on corruption charges of a close relative to
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has significantly bolstered his
graft-fighting credentials just weeks before presidential polls set for
July 8. Former Bank of Indonesia governor Aulia Pohan, the
father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son, was convicted and sentenced in
mid-June to four-and-a-half years in prison on embezzlement charges.
Some political analysts believe the timing of the conviction could be
decisive for the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket, which was already leading
comfortably in most preliminary opinion polls. Those perceptions will
have been strengthened by the conviction on Tuesday of ex-West Java
governor Danny Setiwan on "collective corruption" charges, and the
sentencing of a former supplier for the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, Erry Fuad, to over two years in prison for embezzling
funds.
Corruption issues have featured prominently in Yudhoyono's presidential
race against former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and incumbent vice
president Jusuf Kalla. These contenders have tried unsuccessfully in
public debates to portray the incumbent president as soft on graft and
keen to curtail the powers of a highly successful counter-corruption
agency which he has strongly supported from behind the scenes.
Yudhoyono first rose to power in 2004 on an anti-corruption platform,
an issue that dominated that year's polls. True to that campaign vow,
he has during his five-year tenure presided indirectly over the
conviction of several top officials and politicians. Earlier, Yudhoyono
was accused of netting more opposition-linked politicians and officials
than from his own camp, but the conviction of Pohan has symbolically
countered that criticism at a crucial juncture in the election
campaign.
Since the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) establishment,
Yudhoyono has scored significant political points for the
quasi-independent agency's take-no-prisoners approach. Although
officially established in December 2003 under Megawati Sukarnoputri's
administration, the KPK's record of independence, probity and an
extraordinary 100% conviction rate developed and grew on Yudhoyono's
watch.
The KPK has tackled Indonesia's endemic corruption head-on and in the
process built former soldier Yudhoyono's international reputation as a
good governance champion in one of the world's perceived most
graft-ridden countries. Through May, the KPK investigated and
prosecuted 143 cases, winning guilty convictions and prison sentences
in every case. The fallen have included congressmen, mayors, regents,
diplomats, former governors and legislative commissioners.
Despite that record, the KPK's future is in legal jeopardy. The KPK and
its exclusive anti-corruption court were created as independent bodies
with a mandate to investigate and prosecute crimes that caused
extraordinary state losses. But the specialized court's mandate has
come under assault from the Constitutional Court on the grounds it
lacks "legal certainty" because other criminal courts also try
corruption cases.
The court has been allowed to maintain its jurisdiction until the
legislature debates and passes a new law to address the legal
uncertainty issue, and decides whether to give the court permanent
status. The current court's jurisdiction is scheduled to expire in
December and unless the new law is passed by then it will be dissolved.
In that scenario, the KPK, which is legally required to bring all cases
before the anti-corruption court, would lose its prosecutorial
authority.
Stalling tactics
Indonesia's legislature, known as the DPR, has stalled its
deliberations of the proposed new law through weeks of debate on the
proposed title of the new law, while largely neglecting the spirit and
letter of the legislation. The DPR will adjourn in September, after
which the debates over the anti-corruption court law would go back to
square one under newly elected representatives. Analysts say it is a
virtual impossibility that the law will be passed by September.
The threat to the KPK and its anti-corruption court has emerged as a
hot campaign issue. All three presidential candidates have vowed to
extend the anti-corruption court's jurisdiction by way of a
presidential decree. But any such measure would need to be ratified by
the DPR, which as currently configured - Yudhoyono's Democrat Party
accounting for less than 8% of the body's seats - has locked horns with
the KPK.
Apart from stalled deliberations on the fate of the anti-corruption
court law, legislators have also bid to shut down the KPK altogether
after its chairman, Azhar Antassari, was caught up in murder charges.
Antassari has been named as a suspect in connection with the drive-by
shooting death of a rival for the affections of a young female golf
caddy. Antassari has maintained his innocence, but stepped down from
his post to enter pre-trial detention.
The DPR claimed that the case had opened constitutional questions over
whether deputies could share the duties of a deposed chairman. It has
said that the KPK should be shut down and all its activities stopped
until the disposition of the Antassari case was completed. Those calls
died down after media criticism and conspiracy theories circulated that
the Antassari scandal may have been a setup to hamstring the KPK while
outgoing congressmen tried to secure their post-DPR retirements through
corrupt means.
When the new legislature is seated, Yudhoyono's party will account for
nearly 22% of the DPR's seats. But it's unclear if new congressmen from
the rival PDI-P (Democratic Party of Struggle) or Golkar will aim to
torpedo the anti-corruption court's future existence and by association
undermine the KPK's viability. The mounting uncertainty over
Yudhoyono's counter-corruption drive has caused many foreign investors
to take a wait-and-see attitude on new capital commitments, seen in
stagnant FDI and equity market statistics.
Political analysts believe the KPK's anti-corruption drive, despite
being led by nominally quasi-independent agencies, has significantly
bolstered Yudhoyono's chances of a second five-year term. While he has
not been overtly involved in investigations or prosecutions, seen most
clearly in the recent conviction of his family relation, many
Indonesians perceive he has provided not-so-subtle support to the KPK's
efforts.
Yudhoyono has also significantly maintained both the KPK's and the
anti-corruption court's budgetary allocations in the face of economic
crisis and despite the DPR's and the Attorney General's Office's calls
for cuts, restrictions and limitations on authority. Outside of the
entrenched power elite, Indonesians are hungry for the type of reform
Yudhoyono has so far delivered and many voters hope he will accelerate
in a second term.
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
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