Government, House agree on anticorruption commission
JAKARTA (JP): The government and House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on Thursday to establish within the next two years an independent commission to eradicate corruption.
Minister of Justice Muladi said after attending a plenary House session to endorse the bill on arbitration that the agreement was reached to meet the increasing public demand.
"The commission will be only formed in the next two years to give the government time to prepare. We need two years to conduct a comparative study on job description and performance of other such commissions in countries abroad," Muladi said.
It is expected to take the government another six months to promote the law, the minister said.
At the plenary session, the House unanimously passed the bill on arbitration into law and started deliberating the media bill.
Former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad, who chairs the Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI), urged the government on Tuesday to immediately set up the commission.
He said a tight recruitment should be applied to place the right people in the commission.
Muladi said the independent commission would comprise National Police and Indonesian Military personnel, attorneys, law experts and accountants.
"The commission will have a subcommission in charge of investigation which will be handled by the Police and others dealing with prosecution, which will involve prosecutors," he said.
He said the commission members would be selected by the House, and must be approved by the President as the head of state.
"But, it remains undecided whether to place the commission under supervision of the President or the House." Muladi said, adding that the government would learn from other countries which have already set up such a commission.
The minister said the government would revise the 1991 law on law governing attorneys and the 1970 law on military tribunals to give the commission full authority in handling corruptions involving both civilians and servicemen.
"With the amendment, both the Attorney General's Office and the Military Tribunal will no longer have the authority to prosecute people charged with corruption," he said.
The commission will cooperate with the National Police and the Attorney General's Office in handling complicated cases, added Muladi.
Asked about the investigation into the former first family's alleged corruption, Muladi said he wrote to the Austrian and Swiss governments through their embassies in Jakarta, asking them to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the Soehartos' and the former president's friends' alleged fortunes in those two countries.
He said the letters also authorized the two governments to examine deposits with significant amounts belonging to other Indonesians.
Selection of local and foreign private detectives to investigate the Soehartos' wealth is still underway, according to Muladi.(rms)