Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) is of the view that the work of eradicating corruption will face a very steep and uphill road.
This was conveyed during an event titled 100 days of Prabowo and the Outlook for Corruption Eradication 2025: Political Cartels and Legal Disorientation Threatens Corruption Eradication at the Resonance House in the Kalibata area of South Jakarta on Thursday January 23.
"We see that the agenda for eradicating corruption will face a very steep and uphill road", ICW researcher Yassar Aulia said in a presentation.
Aulia explained that this conclusion is not without grounds. He alluded to public statements by President Prabowo Subianto and his subordinates about the eradication of corruption which is facing many problems.
As an example, Aulia alluded to the discourse by Prabowo's who said he would consider the possibility of forgiving corruptors as long as they returned the money from corruption to the state. Prabowo would disregarded the legal process by giving corruptors an opportunity to repent.
"We feel that many of the ideas that were thrown up were the complete opposite of the values of anti-corruption and we predict that in the future it will actually cause a setback in efforts to eradicate corruption in Indonesia", he added.
"At first glance, friends, this of course seems good, but if we search deeper, of course this does not fulfill a credible legal basis", he continued.
Aulia then quoted from the stipulations under Article 4 of the Corruption Eradication Law (UU Tipikor) which reads: "The return of financial losses to the state does not eliminate the crime for perpetrators of criminal acts of corruption."
Furthermore, Aulia also highlighted efforts by certain parties who want the regulations on state losses as stipulated under Article 2 Paragraph 1 and Article 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law to be deleted.
ICW, he continued, hopes that the Constitutional Court (MK) will reject the request. "It is appropriate to be concerned because the state of corruption eradication in Indonesia is actually very alarming" he said. (ryn/dal)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "ICW: Pemberantasan Korupsi ke Depan Hadapi Jalan Terjal".]
