Frenky Simanjuntak, Jakarta – A recent statement by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono makes us wonder whether he, or his administration, is actually serious in their effort to fight corruption.
In his opening speech to the National Law Convention in Jakarta on Tuesday (April 15), he emphasized the importance of educating people about the law as being a higher priority than the enforcement process.
Furthermore, he said that if corruption were committed by a citizen because of lack of understanding of the law, then law enforcement bodies should take some responsibility for this happening. Finally, he said law enforcement should not use entrapment to apprehend corruptors, but remind them of their misdeeds.
There are three logical fallacies in this position. First, it puts less priority on law enforcement than on educating people about the law and regulations on corruption. While there is no doubt that it's important to educate people about the anti-corruption law, our national strategy to fight corruption makes enforcement, prevention and education equally important.
Indonesia, as one of the most corrupt countries in the world according to the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, needs to step up anti-corruption efforts. So far we have made slow progress, as many corruption cases have not yet reached the legal stage. Enforcing the law, while at the same time socializing regulations, is the only way to tackle rampant corruption.
This nation, which many economic experts predict is on its way into another economic crisis, really doesn't have time to wait for people to be properly socialized in the law, while corrupters drain the precious resources that we have left.
Second, the President promised, which we all remember vividly, that he would "take command and spearhead" the fight against corruption during his election campaign, putting the blame on law enforcement agencies when corrupters admitted committing crimes "because they did not know it was against the law."
Corruption, by nature, is a white-collar crime. In this country corruption occurs at all level of life, from several thousand rupiah "cigarette fees" for government officials in the district office to speed up obtaining an I.D. card, to billions of rupiah of questionable disbursements from Bank Indonesia to our most respectable members of the legislature.
But while so-called "petty corruption" committed by low level government officials can sometimes be blamed on lack of understanding of the law and poor level of income, the same excuse cannot be applied to the big fish.
Generally speaking, the latter have abundant wealth, are mostly educated and sit in top jobs. We can assume they should have no difficulty accessing information, given the privilege of position and the wealth at their disposal.
Many of them have their own legal advisers, which by the nature of their profession, should be well informed about the rules and regulations on how to conduct business. If a person with this background commits corruption, is it fair to share their guilt with law enforcement agencies because of their ignorance of the law? No need to answer that, it's a rhetorical question.
Third, the President's comment that law enforcement agencies should not use entrapment, but rather remind people not to corrupt, is dumbfounding. Corrupters, especially the big fish, are usually good at wriggling out of situations. They have a full bag of tricks to cover their tracks, erase evidence, compromise witnesses, and an army of lawyers and advisers to back them up.
To apprehend this kind of player needs special strategies. Wiretapping, covert surveillance and the whole range of subterfuge methods are the rule of the game to catch them. One thing is for sure, no matter how elusive they are it is very hard for them to avoid conviction when they are caught red handed.
Therefore sometimes the most effective way to deal with them is to use entrapment. This has achieved good results in the recent past (the arrest of one prominent Electoral Commission former member comes to mind).
And the idea of reminding a possible corrupter not to do it again, is to put it mildly, rather strange. It reminds me of Steven Spielberg's science fiction movie Minority Report. The film depicts a special law enforcement unit, with the task of arresting a murderer before the murder takes place, based on the advice of three special agents with the power of pre-cognition.
At least in the movie, the would-be murderer is arrested. If we applied the idea mentioned in the speech, should KPK, after months of surveillance and collecting evidence on the suspect, send a counselor to remind him that what is proposed is illegal and then advise him to return to the path of righteousness, or should KPK send a crack law enforcement unit to pick him up? Sounds a bit like science fiction, doesn't it?
Recent apprehensions of dozens of government officials suspected of corruption, including the highly publicized arrest of suspected bribe-taker legislator Al Amin Nasution, not only gathered praise for KPK but also criticism. Coming not surprisingly from people related to the apprehended suspects, they criticized KPK methods and the grounds for arrest.
They use neutral terms, like clarification, perhaps to put them in a safer position, not openly defending a possible corruption suspect, in case the investigation process goes in the direction they do not want.
In relation to Al Amin's arrest, several party colleagues, members of the United Development Party (PPP), asked the KPK for clarification. They asked for reconstruction of the actual arrest procedure, which they said was full of contraventions. Of course they also stated that if Al Amin was proven guilty in the name of law, then he should be punished according to his crime. Members of several parties have also demanded clarification of different cases handled by KPK, in the name of law, of course.
All the questions, doubts and attacks, from many sides, on KPK law enforcement procedures, could demoralize this independent body. The last thing they need is for the President, the self-selected commander in chief of the nation's war against corruption, to make statements like this.
This may not only demoralize the KPK and other law enforcement agencies working against corruption, but it puts a question mark on the seriousness of the administration to work on this agenda. Luckily, they still have the popular rock group Slank on their side.
[The writer is a researcher at Transparency International Indonesia. He can be reached at fsimanjuntak@ti.or.id.]