Febriamy Hutapea – The corruption-plagued House of Representatives was criticized on Tuesday after it concluded its third sitting session of the 2008-09 governmental year without enacting legislation for the establishment of a permanent Anti-Corruption Court.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the House must pass a new law legitimizing the court by December 2009 or it could be deemed in breach of the Constitution.
There are fears that legislators – who have increasingly been targeted by the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, with a number of high-profile cases being tried at the Anti-Corruption Court – will let time run out, which would invalidate the court's authority.
Emerson Yuntho, a coordinator of legal affairs with nongovernmental organization Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the House had a clear conflict of interest by being involved in the permanent establishment of an antigraft court.
In 2007, Transparency International Indonesia ranked the House, or DPR, as the most graft-ridden government institution in Indonesia, while a recent string of cases investigated by the KPK have revealed the previously hidden depths of corruption within the House.
The ICW said nine past or present lawmakers have been arrested by the KPK, including Abdul Hadi Jamal of the National Mandate Party, or PAN, revealed on Tuesday as allegedly having received a bribe of $90,000.
Emerson said if the House wanted to hinder the performance of the KPK and the current antigraft court, it could ignore the deliberation of the legislation and fail to endorse the bill by the deadline. "People are waiting for a serious commitment from the House to protect the existence of the Anti-Corruption Court," he said.
House Speaker Agung Laksono said the bill on the court should be the body's top priority in its effort to fight corruption.
The House is slated to open on April 12, after the April 9 legislative elections, and will sit until its term expires on Oct. 1. Analysts have said that when the newly elected legislators assume office, they could demand that deliberations of the bill start anew.
Speaking on Tuesday, Agung told a plenary session of the House that "the DPR is really concerned and has a desire to finish the antigraft court bill deliberation based on the deadline."
He said the House should finish the deliberation before sitting lawmakers end their term between August and September this year. If an antigraft court has not been established before December, all of the corruption cases that had previously been managed by the KPK would be taken over by state district courts, Agung said.
"That has been opposed by many people as it's not conducive to our commitment to fight corruption," he said.
Legislator Dewi Asmara of the Golkar Party, who chairs the bill's deliberation, said the committee deliberating the bill would start an intensive discussion once it returned on April 12. Dewi said she was optimistic the bill could be finished in the next sitting period. "We have set a target to finish it as soon as possible," she said.