Abdul Khalik, Nusa Dua, Bali – The Indonesian legal system, from police and prosecutors to the judicial system, have all been involved in power abuses and bribery, paralyzing efforts to eradicate corruption accross the country, civil society organizations say.
Gadjah Mada University legal expert Denny Indrayana said Indonesia's stagnant position as "the most corrupt nation in the world" could be explained by the failure of its corrupt legal system to prosecute corrupt politicians and businesspeople.
"The legal system is supposed to uphold the law and punish guilty parties," Denny said at a seminar attended by dozens of non-government organizations from across the country, last week in Sanur, Bali.
"By doing so, it would create justice and have a deterrent effect on crime," he said, "but it has failed to carry out its task, leaving most corruption cases unresolved."
The seminar preceded a five-day UN conference on corruption in Nusa Dua, which began on Monday.
Denny, who also chairs the Center for Anti-Corruption Analysis (Pukat), said law enforcers had only managed to net some of the small fish, leaving many high-profile suspects, comprising high-ranking officials, powerful politicians and businesspeople, at large.
"Corruption cases in legislatures, the State Palace, big conglomerates and the legal system have been left untouched. They only aim at people lacking power and money. Unless they have the guts to prosecute those in power, we can not hope to eradicate corruption in this country," Denny said.
Bambang Widjoyanto of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said the "failure of the Supreme Court" as an independent judiciary institution under the leadership of Bagir Manan was because he allowed "external influences and bribery" to determine his court rulings and failed to take action against judges and other court officials implicated or guilty of corruption.
"How can we expect other Indonesian institutions to be clean and transparent if the Supreme Court rejects an audit from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) on its account of fees paid by people seeking justice," he said.
He said between 2004 and 2006, despite numerous reports of bribery allegedly involving judges, the Supreme Court has made no moves to bring them to justice.
In its recent report, the Supreme Court said that out of 369 complaints it received from the public on alleged misconduct of court officials, only 43 cases were completed, with no judges punished so far.
In 2005, out of 317 complaints from the public, only 40 legal staff were handed administrative sanctions and no judges faced criminal charges or got fired, while in 2006, some 505 complaints resulted in only 51 staff members being handed administrative sanctions.
"How can the Supreme Court have a deterrent effect on bribery and corruption among its own judges and staff if it is not getting tough?" Bambang said.
He and Denny both said the overhaul of mechanisms for the recruitment of public officials for positions in legal institutions, and increased control of civil society were key factors to cut the vicious cycle of corruption in Indonesia.
"The Indonesian corruption phenomena is a full circle. There are corrupt executives, members of legislature and the judicial system," Denny said.
"To break the cycle, the public must be in direct control of the appointment of top judiciary officials," he said. "We should groom clean candidates from universities or civil society organizations, and support them while they run for office."
Former judge Dolores L. Espanol of the Philippines also said that the way to break the corruption cycle must be top-down, with top posts in the judicial system being clean and having the courage to initiate massive corruption eradication programs.
"Leaders with honesty and high integrity are a key element in the eradication of corruption. We have chief justice Puno in the Philippines who we believe can make a difference because he has proven his integrity and has begun to punish corrupt judges. We hope that all will follow suit if we have a good leader," she said.
In Indonesia, however, many have doubted the performance of former state prosecutor Antasari Azhar as the current chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), given that his election was influenced by political bargaining in the House of Representatives.
Amin Sunaryadi lost in the election for KPK's top post, despite the fact that he received full support from civil society organizations. "In future we need to be united and demand that a publicly-approved person is elected for such a top job," Bambang said.