Dessy Sagita – A senior member of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says that he is disappointed with the early release of graft convict Sjahril Djohan.

"ICW believes that corruption convicts should not be granted early remission, let alone be released on probation. It will not teach them anything," Emerson said on Thursday.

Sjahril was relased on probation earlier on Thursday, after serving two-thirds of his 18-month sentence for channeling bribe money to the National Police's chief of detectives in an attempt to fix two criminal cases favoring a lawyer. Emerson said Sjahril's lenient punishment and steadfast release would lead to speculation that the judicial mafia were involved in the case.

"He was only sentenced to a short amount of time, but already he has been released on probation. I don't understand why [Justice and Human Rights] Minister [Patrialis] did that," he said.

Emerson said Sjahril's premature release would set a bad precedent, allowing people to think that corruption was not a serious crime because of the privileges given to graft convicts.