Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Men dressed up as a gorilla, a tiger, a rabbit and a bear took the center stage at the office of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Sunday, asking for stronger action against corruption.
The theatrical event was "a symbol and a criticism of lawmakers at the House of Representatives who are currently deliberating the corruption court bill," said ICW deputy coordinator Emerson Yuntho, disguised as a monkey.
"Even animals want the Corruption Court to remain, and wish for a stronger KPK (the Corruption Eradication Commission) to ensure we keep fighting against corruption," he said, addressing a one-day talk on the issue.
So far, lawmakers appear to be ignoring the public's demand for a stronger and stricter legal basis to eradicate graft, he said.
Legislators, for example, have approved a ratio of career to ad-hoc judges in the Corruption Court that favors career judges. However, when the Corruption Court was first established, ad-hoc judges were initially r cruited because district court career judges were reputed to be corrupt.
"The KPK and the Corruption Court have undeniably given us hope that we can get rid of the perpetrators of corruption in this country," Emerson said.
"The number of graft cases previously untouchable under conventional legal institutions, which have been successfully handled by the KPK and Corruption Court, are a testament to this."
"We are very concerned with politicians, corrupt individuals and their supporters' attempts to weaken the two institutions through the bill, including the plan to eliminate the KPK's authority to prosecute."
Dadang Tri Sasongko of the ICW said his organization wanted to remind lawmakers, with their animal theatrics, that corruption could not be dealt with in an ordinary way.
"The essence of the (current) corruption court bill seems to have a tendency to bring corruption eradication efforts back to square one," he said.
The 2006 Constitutional Court ruling, he added, "only ordered that the government draft a special law as a legal basis for the Corruption Court. The ruling did not order the dismantling of the KPK's authorities."
The ruling has given the government and the House three years to pass a new corruption court law before Dec. 19, 2009.
Uli Parulian Sihombing, director of the Indonesian Legal Resource Center, said lawmakers were clearly intending to cut the KPK's authority.
"Besides ending the KPK's authority to prosecute, the House is also in the process of removing the KPK's rights to wiretap, while there are so many high profile cases that could be solved with wiretapping."
Therefore, they all urged the House to stop deliberating the corruption court bill and asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a government regulation in lieu-of-law instead.
"The President should take over this problem and show he is determined to eradicate corruption," said Dadang. "Otherwise, the President's reputation based on his campaign promises to eradicate corruption will be tainted."