Haeril Halim, Jakarta – The Law and Human Rights Ministry has finalized a revision on a regulation which, if approved by the President, will strip the country's antigraft body of the authority to grant remission and parole to graft, terrorism and drug prisoners.

The ministry is set to send the proposal on the revision of Government Regulation (PP) No. 99/2012 on remissions to the State Palace for approval by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo despite mounting criticism from antigraft campaigners who consider the move as detrimental to the country's efforts to eradicate rampant corruption.

The current Remission Law was enacted in 2012 during the tenure of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono under the spirit of tightening measures for convicts of extraordinary crimes by requiring them to become a justice collaborator as perquisite to receive parole and remission.

The law requires the ministry to first consult with the National Police, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to get their recommendation on whether convicts whose cases they investigated could be granted parole and remission.

With the recommendation letter, law enforcers would confirm whether convicts had acquired justice collaborator status during the investigation. If approved, the ministry could move to grant parole and remission to graft convicts.

Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said he wanted the government to revoke the stipulations in the Remission Law requiring the ministry to consult with law enforcement institutions before making any decisions on parole and remission.

The KPK had strongly rejected the revision plan, a move it said would undermine its ongoing and intensive efforts to seek heavier punishment for graft suspects.

"We agree with the KPK that graft offenders must be harshly punished, but such a process should only take place during the investigation and trial process, not during the time served in prison," Yasonna said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The ministry said Indonesia applied an integrated criminal justice system in which justice collaborator status was granted by a panel of judges in court before convicts served their time in prison.

Thus, it was unnecessary to seek confirmation on justice collaborator status for convicts of extraordinary crimes from the National Police, the AGO and the KPK before granting them remission and parole, as such information was already available in their guilty verdicts.

Yasonna made the statement despite the fact that the 2012 Remission Law required his office to get recommendation from law enforcers in the first place in order to provide the checks-and-balance system and transparency over the exercise of its power to grant remission and parole to convicts.

"The KPK has no right to be involved in the remission process because it no longer has any authority over convicts who have become prisoners," Yasonna went on.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said that the antigraft body had sent an official letter to Jokowi in order to reject Yasonna's revision plan and urged Jokowi to comply with public calls on the matter. "Now the ball is in the President's court," Agus said recently.

Agus also lambasted Yasonna for making a public statement in which the ministry moved to ease the process of remission for prisoners in order to overcome the country's prison over capacity problems. "If prisons are full then build new ones," Agus added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/31/fate-KPK-s-remission-authority-hands-president.html