Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The House of Representatives has been urged to take concrete action to revise a regulation that allows legislators to receive a pension even after they have been convicted for a crime.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said that without taking concrete steps, the law, which regulates the salary and pension fund system for public officials, would run against efforts to fight corruption.

Fitra's Uchok Sky Khadafi called on legislators to stop making suggestions they did not plan on implementing. Instead, he urged them to start taking real action, saying that any pretense would only make the public sick.

Uchok said that many public office holders and politicians actually supported the idea to revise the law. "So let's not just throw ideas around in order to build an image," Uchok said in Jakarta on Friday.

He said that pensions for convicted legislators had to be revoked. Legislators convicted of corruption have been proven guilty in court of committing a crime, and pensions are meant to be an award from the state to officials for their dedication, Uchok argued.

"But if they commit graft, that's no longer dedication but an effort to seek personal benefits, amassing wealth at the expense of the country and robbing the people of their rights," he said.

Previously, the House Ethics Council revealed that several graft convicts such as Muhammad Nazaruddin and Wa Ode Nurhayati were still receiving their pensions as retired legislators. House Speaker Marzuki Alie said there was something wrong with the mechanism in the House that enabled graft convicts to receive pensions from the state.

"They [graft convicts] tendered their resignation due to public pressure before the House took action," Marzuki said in Jakarta on Thursday.

"They did it while the cases were still being processed and before the court had issued a legally binding decision. And based on that, the government decided to discharge them with honor, making them entitled to a pension fund."

He added the House could only discharge them without honor once they no longer had recourse to an appeal. In those cases, the convicts would not be entitled to a pension. "There should be a solution for it, for instance the House Ethics Council should launch an investigation and if they are proven guilty of violating the code of ethics, that should be enough to dismiss them without honor."

People's Conscience Party (Hanura) legislator Syarifuddin Sudding also voiced his disapproval, saying that corruption convicts did not deserve pensions because they had robbed the public.