All stakeholders must eradicate court corruption
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Anticorruption activist and former noted justice said on Thursday that all stakeholders in the country must take drastic measures to stop rampant corruption in courts.
Corruption in courts is the most serious problem that needs attention ahead of corruption in political parties or the police, according to a recent opinion survey by Berlin-based Transparency International.
"The government must lead such anticorruption measures," activist Albert Hasibuan said on Thursday.
According to him, the government must commit to the eradication of corruption starting with anticorruption measures in courts.
Through the Attorney General's Office, the government should persistently eradicate court mafia including judges, prosecutors and lawyers, Albert said.
Similarly, the government must give rewards to clean and successful legal enforcers in curbing rampant corruption.
He also said it was important to have two clean figures to lead the Supreme Court and the Attorney General's Office respectively to help ensure that corruption in courts would be eradicated.
With the government leading anticorruption measures, other stakeholders like lawyers and citizens could contribute to the eradication of rampant corruption in the courts.
"People and lawyers must stop bribing prosecutors and judges," he said. "Our permissive mentality to tolerate corruption must be eliminated."
Transparency International's findings that corruption in the courts should be the first to be resolved in Indonesia was based on a survey of around 1,000 people. The results departed from the trend found in most other countries surveyed, which overwhelmingly singled out political parties as the institution that needed the most attention.
In Indonesia, nearly one in three picked the courts of law as the worst culprits; political parties came second, utilities and police third and fourth respectively.
Early this year, the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said in a book titled Opening the Curtains on the Court Mafia that corruption in the judiciary involved all law enforcers -- policemen, prosecutors, judges and supreme court justices amid the haphazard reform movement.
"It is right to say that the judiciary is the true winner in the corruption competition in the country," it said.
Former Justice Benjamin Mangkoedilaga concurred with Albert.
He said the government must establish favorable conditions to eradicate corruption in courts.
"Reward and punishment for legal enforcers is important to eradicate corruption," he said.
While punishment for corruptors is clearly stated under the anticorruption law, rewards for legal enforcers have not yet been adequate, he said.
Benjamin said the Supreme Court must continuously reform itself by dismissing corrupt judges as it did recently.
"This effort will create a trustworthy legal institution," he said.
"People should also stop using short cuts by bribing judges to win cases," he added.