Terong (Eggplant): We will eradicate corruption!!!

Rats: Hooray!!!

Indonesia's corrupt government officials and politicians have good reason to cheer President Prabowo Subianto's latest call to crack down on graft given his conflicting statements and lack of any real action on fighting corruption since taking office in October.

Speaking at a government meeting on Monday December 30, Prabowo urged judges to adopt a tougher stance on graft defendants saying they deserve to be imprisoned for decades, especially if they caused hundreds of trillions of rupiahs in state losses.

His remarks came a week after high-profile business tycoon Harvey Moeis was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison and fined US$13 million for his role in a massive tin-mining corruption case. The jail term sparked public outrage as state losses from the case amounted to a massive US$18.6 billion, primarily from irreparable environmental damage caused by illegal mining activities.

The president's latest comments on Monday came only two days after he denied that he had wanted to pardon graft convicts, saying his intention was for them to just "repent" and return the money they stole.

During a visit to Egypt on December 18, the Prabowo was reported as saying he may pardon those convicted of graft if they returned what they stole. 

The idea was met with criticisms from legal experts and anti-corruption activists who said that this would undermine Indonesia's fight against corruption and conflicted with several existing laws.

They also point out that since taking office Prabowo taken no concrete steps to address corruption such as reviving the once feared Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or passing the long delayed assets seizure bill.