ARREST OF CHIEF JUSTICE RAISES DEMAND FOR DEATH PENALTY

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 5 (Antara) - Increasing cases of corruption committed by public officials is resulting in calls for enacting the death penalty following the conviction of corrupt officials.          The public has been frustrated amid efforts to cleanse the country of graft, yet corruption continues to take place.          The arrest of Chief Justice Akil Mochtar of the Constitutional Court (MK) by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday was just one in a series of arrests made of high ranking officials.          "The arrest of Akil Mochtar by the KPK added more proof to the fact that corruption has penetrated all state institutions," Emerson F Yuntho, a leader of Indonesian Corruption Watch (IWC), said.      He added that the arrest of the Constitutional Court chairman is a disaster for the country's Constitution.          A similar concern was also expressed by officials of Indonesian Police Watch (IPW), saying the public has been frustrated by the MK leader being mired in a graft case.          The Corruption Eradication Commission on Wednesday arrested Chairman of the Constitutional Court Akil Mochtar on charges of receiving bribes from a lawmaker and a businessman, in connection with a dispute related to the election of the head of the Gunung Mas district in Central Kalimantan.          He was caught allegedly accepting US$260 thousand from a Golkar party lawmaker, identified as CHN, and a businessman, CN. KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the KPK could only acknowledge that a total value of Rp2.7 billion in dollar and rupiah currencies had been confiscated following the KPK's search of Akil Mochtar's official residence.            The arrest of Akil came only a few weeks after a similar case involving head of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator (SKK Migas) Rubi Rudiandini.          "The law can be bought off. There are no more leaders who can be trusted in the country," outspoken IPW Presidium Chairman Neta S Pane said.          Pane added that MK, which was expected to be the last fortress to protect the Constitution, has been proven to be unreliable.          In August, according to nytimes.com online, the head of the country's oil and gas regulator was arrested on bribery allegations after anticorruption investigators raided his home and found more than $700,000 in cash.          In January, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, chairman of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party, was arrested on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for securing a government contract for import boxed beef.          In February, the chairman of the governing Democratic Party, Anas Urbaningrum, resigned after the anticorruption commission said he was a suspect in a corruption investigation surrounding the construction of a national sports complex in West Java Province.          Also, Andi Mallarangeng, a senior Democratic Party member and the country's minister for sports and youth affairs, resigned in December after being named as a suspect in the same case.         Referring to the Akil arrest, House Speaker Marzuki Alie said it was a blow to Indonesia and brought shame upon the nation in the eyes of the world. "MK, which was born out of the reform movement, was seen as a clean institution and the expectation that it would guard reforms turned out to be unreliable," Marzuki Alie said.          Therefore, former MK chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie said it was reasonable for Akil to be charged with a death penalty offense because he abused his power as the chief of the country's highest judicial body.          Jimly said he was disappointed and angered by the arrest, saying Akil deserved the death sentence.          "In my mind, he deserves the death sentence, although our laws do not recognize death verdicts for the corrupt. Yet, the KPK can demand the death penalty. Let the judge decide," noted Jimly on Thursday.          Mahfud MD, a former MK chairman who was succeeded by Akil Mochtar, said the alleged graft case of Akil was a disaster that has fallen upon law enforcement in Indonesia.          He noted that throughout Indonesia's history there has never been a case in which a chairman of a high state institution was arrested and charged with corruption. "Should there be one, it was not because of a corruption case but because of a different political view with the ruler," Mahfud said.         In response to the Akil case, members of the public are busy voicing their opinions, through online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, on the need of using the death sentence to prevent future corruption.         Further, legislator Tjatur Sapto Edy of the House Commission III on legal affairs said there was the possibility in Indonesian law for an official accused of corruption to be punished by death.         "Indonesia has a law that could be used to mete out a death penalty. The problem is that judges have not used it, so far," Tjatur stated, when contacted by Antara on Friday.          He said Law No. 31/1999 on Corruption Crime includes an article that could be interpreted to allow for handing down the death penalty for corruption.          "I do not know why the article is never used. Possibly judges have no confidence in issuing a death verdict based upon the article," said Tjatur, who is faction chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) of the House.          The same opinion was also aired by Yenti Garnasih, a legal expert on money laundering. She said a death penalty sentence could be given to corrupt high-ranking officials.          "If the President declares a corruption-related state of emergency, the MK chairman could be sentenced to death," Yenti said during a discussion entitled 'South East Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption' at the Parliament building on Thursday.          Garnasih added that based upon Article 2 Point 2 of the Law on the Corruption Elimination Commission, an official could be sentenced to death if his or her crime caused monetary instability, an emergency situation, or in relations to funding following a natural disaster.          She said that Indonesian law might allow judges to hand down a death penalty to convicted high state officials.          The need to hand down a death verdict for corrupt officials was also expressed by retired general Djoko Santoso, chief patron of the Just and Prosperous Indonesia (ASA) organization. He stressed the need for law enforcement officials to pass along death sentences to the corrupt so that the punishment would create a deterrence.          Therefore, ASA suggested that the law on elimination of corruption needed to be revised to include the death sentence.          But observer and criminal law expert JE Sahetapy of Airlangga University disagrees with using the death penalty in corruption cases.          "I disagree with it. Do you think the death sentence will reduce the number of corrupt officials in this country?" he asked, when contacted by Antara on Friday. He cited, as an example, the death penalty given to thieves in Britain in the 19th century. It did not reduce stealing, he said.          Therefore, the death penalty for corrupt officials in Indonesia could not guarantee that the number of corruption cases in the country would decline.          "I think what the government should do is take firm sanctions against violators, no matter how serious the mistake they have made," JE Sahetapy said.***2*** (T.A014/INE  ) (EDITED BY INE) (T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 05-10-2013 13:4