All stakeholders must eradicate court corruption
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.