Jakarta – Needling out corruption and overseeing bureaucratic reform should be the new attorney general's top priority, observers said Sunday.
The mountain of challenges, they continued, could only be overcome if the new attorney general was hired from outside of the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
Other major challenges include the investigation into the Rp 6.7 trillion (US$716 million) Bank Century bailout, uncovering mafia-like practices among the judiciary and the framing of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
Saldi Isra, a constitutional law expert, said that only a non-career prosecutor would have the courage to rid the institution of corrupt practices and implement bureaucratic reforms to improve efficiency.
"It would be very difficult for an insider to solve the problems in the AGO, especially when it comes to punishing problematic prosecutors," he said.
He cited the bribery case involving state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, which was not followed up by investigations into several senior AGO officials implicated in the case.
Urip was charged with accepting $660,000 in cash in 2008 from businesswoman Artalyta Suryani to halt an AGO investigation into the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support funds (BLBI) involving her associate tycoon, Sjamsul Nursalim.
"The new attorney general should also closely monitor prosecutors in the regions, otherwise a lot of cases will go unresolved," he said.
He added that all current problems, such as judicial corruption, the investigation into major corruption cases – including the Bank Century case – and the monitoring of prosecutors in local regions, should be tackled simultaneously.
Donal Fariz from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said top priority should be placed on institutional reform. "Up to now we've seen the AGO do everything to protect problematic prosecutors like Wisnu [Subroto] and Cirus [Sinaga]."
Wisnu was implicated in the case of Anggodo Widjojo, a businessman recently convicted for attempting to bribe KPK leaders in a bid to help his fugitive brother, Anggoro, who is wanted for his involvement in a graft case involving a government project. Cirus is also alleged to have been involved in the graft case of former tax officer Gayus Tambunan.
Donal wants prosecutors to demand hefty punishments for people charged with corruption. "The new attorney general also needs to improve the recruitment system. The AGO has so far failed to produce clean and bright prosecutors," he said.
He said an outsider would be best suited to fill the post of attorney general because he or she had yet to be involved in the corrupt system.
Last week, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji proposed eight candidates – all from within the AGO – to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. While the candidates have received strong support from prosecutors across the country, they have been fiercely rejected by NGO activists and some senior politicians.
Advocates of the recommendation say that an insider would be best to lead the AGO because he or she would already be familiar with the institution.
Donal said prosecutors' aversion to an outsider replacing Hendarman showed they were opposed to reform. He added that the AGO could take a middle road by having an attorney general from outside the institution assisted by career attorneys. (lnd)