Anticorruption law ineffective: Minister Lopa
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice and Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa proposed yesterday a bill for reversing the burden of proof to revise the 1999 Anticorruption Law that has been found ineffective in fighting rampant corruption among civil servants and state officials.
"The eradication of corruption must be conducted with great thoroughness, including shifting the burden of proof to the accused. Defendants must be assumed to be guilty unless they are able to give evidence of their innocence," he said at the House of Representatives' plenary session here on Monday.
Lopa said the rampant practice of corruption committed systematically by civil servants and state officials, which has brought great losses to the state, is a serious violation of the people's social and economic rights.
He said that the investigative system stipulated by the 1999 law has been found ineffective to combat the practice of corruption because law enforcers, especially prosecutors, encounter difficulties in presenting evidence.
"Why? Because the accused, use sophisticated techniques to hide their wealth gained through corrupt practices. Therefore, the existing investigative system must be replaced by a reversal of the burden of proof. Under this system, all civil servants, state-owned company employees and state officials whose wealth is not in balance with their monthly income, are obliged to prove that they are not involved in corruption," he said.
He said the bill also inserted two types of data that could be taken as valid evidence in the reversed investigative system.
The first group is any information or data gained through electronic equipment, except telegrams, telexes, facsimiles and e-mails. The second group is all documents in the form of manuscripts, pictures, sounds, maps, photos, letters, signals, figures, or other significant data, he said.
He added that shifting the burden of proof would provide a strong legal basis for law enforcers, especially prosecutors and judges, to uphold the supremacy of law.
Lopa said while the bill is being deliberated, the 1999 law has been suspended, and the 1971 Anticorruption Law will take effect again to avoid a legal vacuum.
Meanwhile, several legislators of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) expressed their pessimism about the eradication of corruption due to the continued political crisis.
Pataniari Siahaan said deliberation of the bill would take at least six months, and this would give time for corruptors to avoid prosecution.
"Supporters of the former corrupt New Order regime will have an adequate time within the next six months to hide their corrupted wealth to avoid prosecution. They are expected to make every effort to strongly fight to prolong the bill's deliberation as long as possible," he said.
Aberson Marle Sihaloho criticized the government for having no strong commitment toward prosecuting corruptors.
"If the government had a strong political will to eradicate corruption, it would have issued a regulation in lieu of the reversed investigative system so that big-time corruptors could be brought to court," he said.
Lopa had earlier stated that the government would issue a regulation in lieu of the law, but several legislators, including those from the Golkar faction, strongly criticized the idea. They said that shifting the burden of proof should be regulated by law so that the system would have a strong legal basis. (rms)