AG office must be 'free from interference'

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro said yesterday he had proposed that his office detach itself from the government and become a separate and independent institution.

Soedjono told reporters here yesterday that his office was preparing a concept proposal on the issue which would be completed on Monday, adding that he intended to submit it to President B.J. Habibie soon.

"We demand an independent Attorney General's Office...We should be the state prosecutor, not the government's prosecutor," Soedjono said after meeting University of Indonesia law school students at his office.

Soedjono also said he told Habibie that the police force should not continue to belong to the Armed Forces. Instead it should answer directly to the President or put under the Ministry of Home Affairs, he argued.

"Police should comply with civilian law, not military law," Soedjono argued.

The National Commission on Human Rights said on Tuesday that police should be separated from the Armed Forces so that they could be free to act as an independent body and be in a better position to serve and protect the public.

The rights body said the police should follow a doctrine that is entirely different from that of military, which is "to crush enemies." The police, they said, exist to protect and serve the public.

Soedjono, who has been a prosecutor for 34 years and was appointed attorney general by former president Soeharto in March, boasted that he was committed to reform of the legal system and promised to uphold the law.

Soedjono promised to initiate reform in his office by changing the "old mentality" of his subordinates.

However, analysts continue to doubt the ability of the Attorney General's Office to address cases of corruption. (byg)