Benny K. Harman Quotes Tan Malaka During Discussion of Asset Confiscation Bill

MP Benny K. Harman from the Democrat Party faction in Commission III of the House of Representatives quoted the ideas of Indonesian independence fighter Tan Malaka during a meeting discussing the Asset Confiscation Bill in Commission III on Monday (6/4).

The follow-up meeting on drafting the Asset Confiscation Bill text invited two legal experts: Heri Firmansyah from Tarumanagara University in Jakarta and Oce Madril, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Study Centre (Pukat) at the Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University.

According to Benny, one of the reasons the House invited academics in drafting the bill is to bring clarity to murky issues and make the irrational rational.

“Quoting Tan Malaka’s words, what we need from academics is rational logic, not mystical logic,” said Benny.

“If it’s mystical logic, our country will never progress. Rational logic is generally developed by our friends in universities,” he added.

On that occasion, Benny said he wanted to get an overview of why the Asset Confiscation Bill is considered important. According to Benny, the terminology or nomenclature of asset confiscation remains vague and unclear.

He said the term still raises several questions, such as who is given the authority to confiscate and what is being confiscated.

“What is the state’s legitimacy to confiscate someone’s wealth, right?” he said.

In addition, Benny also questioned who would manage the confiscated assets. Including who would oversee the institution designated to carry out the confiscation.

“These are academic questions that must be answered by the resource persons,” said Benny.

According to him, the House is not an academic institution, but a political one. Therefore, academics must provide several rational options for the House.

“So that we in the House can make choices, called rational choice, in the law-making process,” said Benny.

In their presentations, the experts provided input on the substance of the Asset Confiscation Bill before it is officially discussed with the government.

For example, Oce Madril hopes the Asset Confiscation Bill does not only regulate seizure but also ensures that asset management provides economic value to the state.

“Then the second approach that I think should be used is an approach that more balances the protection of property while also the state’s interest in enforcing the law,” said Oce.

Meanwhile, Heri Firmansyah reminded the House that the Asset Confiscation Bill should not violate private property rights. He assessed that the Asset Confiscation Bill is difficult to achieve because it always has issues with equality in law enforcement.

“Because as far as my knowledge and experience, what is quite difficult to achieve in law enforcement is the issue of equality,” said Heri.

In response to the various inputs, Commission III also provided several notes.

Gerindra highlights presumption of innocence principle

MP Bimantoro from the Gerindra faction in Commission III highlighted the presumption of innocence principle in the investigation process of alleged corruption cases.

So far, said Bimantoro, law enforcement officials often create public opinion regarding assets owned by suspected corruptors, even though their legal status is not yet clear.

“Now it seems that before anything happens, right at the beginning, issues are already being created, usually by law enforcement, issues about assets here and there, so this becomes dangerous,” said Bimantoro.

Therefore, in the future, he encourages the Asset Confiscation Bill to set boundaries so that officials cannot build open negative opinions against suspected corruption perpetrators.

“So don’t let it be just reasonably suspected, the origin is not yet clear from where, obtained from where, and already beaten in the public space first,” he said.

Golkar discusses assets of deceased defendants

MP Soedeson Tandra in Commission III raised the issue of asset confiscation for perpetrators who have died. According to Soedeson, the law so far stipulates that criminal penalties are extinguished if someone dies.

He said the Asset Confiscation Bill in the future must properly regulate that. Therefore, he proposed that asset confiscation for deceased convicts be done in another way, namely asset recovery.

“I more agree with the term asset recovery or in Madurese, asset recovery,” said Soedeson.

However, in practice, this contradicts several regulations. Therefore, such cases must be discussed together.

PKB questions disguised assets

MP Hasbiyallah Ilyas in Commission III questioned the method of asset confiscation for corruption proceeds that are disguised. Because in many cases, he said, not all assets owned by perpetrators come from corruption crimes.

“How about corruption proceeds that are disguised?” said Hasbiyallah.

According to him, there are many different perceptions in society compared to officials. For the public, asset confiscation is interpreted as an effort to impoverish corruptors.

However, for some circles, especially state officials, not all assets come from corruption proceeds.

“They understand that asset confiscation means take everything, impoverish everyone, even if it’s our own assets, not from corruption proceeds, for example,” said Hasbiyallah.

PDI-P responds to proposal for special agency under the President

An MP from the PDI-P faction in Commission III said his side will consider the proposal for a special agency authorised to execute asset confiscation in the Asset Confiscation Bill.

According to Safaruddin, the Asset Confiscation Bill in principle will be carried out by law enforcement officials. However, the Asset Confiscation Bill will only apply if the investigation process does not go well.

“When the criminal act does not proceed well, then the Asset Confiscation Law applies, yes, death, fleeing, we will detail it later,” said Safaruddin.

The Asset Confiscation Bill, which has been proposed since 2008, has not yet been passed due to a lack of political priority in the House, the complexity of legal synchronisation (especially related to the Criminal Procedure Code), and caution.