From an article titled ICW says MK decision on remissions shows law enforcers have no sense of crisis.
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says that a Constitutional Court (MK) ruling declaring that all convicted prisoners have an equal right to remission, including corruptors, shows that law enforcement officials have no sense of crisis over corruption.
ICW research Kurnia Ramadhana said that the court's ruling failed to understand that corruption is an extraordinary crime which requires special treatment in order to create a deterrent effect.
In its ruling however the Constitutional Court asserted that awarding remissions to convicts is the sole authority of correctional institutions without the intervention of other institutions.
The ruling essentially annuls Government Regulation Number 99/2012 on the Regulations and Rights of Penitentiary Inmates which states that convicts convicted of special crimes such as terrorism, narcotics and corrjuption can only receive remissions if they become justice collaborators.
Ramadhana said furthermore that the grounds given by the court for the ruling – that it was to address overcrowding in correctional institutions – was erroneous.
"Because based on data for the year 2020, corruption convicts only totaled 0.7 percent of all inmates", he said, adding that the principle factor leading to overcrowding was due to the large number of prisoners convicted for drug related crimes.
Ramadhana added that this is to do with problems with the narcotics law and its implementation by law enforcement officials. "So the problem is not with giving remissions", he said in conclusion.
