Graft law, rights tribunal rulings passed

JAKARTA (JP): With just a few days left to his term, President B.J. Habibie had a busy day on Monday issuing a decree on the establishment of an independent commission to keep tabs on state officials' wealth and signing a government ruling to set up a national human rights tribunal.

Apart from the independent commission, the presidential decree will also see to the establishment of a secretary-general's office to support the commission's work.

Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision and Administrative Reforms Hartarto said the commission to oversee state officials' wealth is aimed at eradicating corruption. It is expected to begin effectively working in May.

"The members of the commission will be selected from the public, and all of them must get prior approval from the House of Representatives (DPR)," Hartarto said after an unscheduled meeting with Habibie at Merdeka Palace.

The decree is a follow-up to a bill on clean governance passed in April which obliges all government officials to reveal their assets before and after their tenure.

The President signed the bill into law a few weeks later. The administrative law is officially called the Law on State Administrators Who Are Free from Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism (KKN) Practices.

The commission will have power to audit state officials holding office for purposes of clarification and not inquiry.

The law mandates the President, as the head of state, to head the Permanent Commission of Examiners to oversee state officials at executive, legislative and judicatory positions, and officials assigned to state companies.

A court can impose a minimum punishment of two years and a Rp 200 million fine (US$230,000) on violators.

Under the old system, officials are required to declare their assets to superiors. Senior officials, including Cabinet members, must report their wealth directly to the President. However, they are not obliged to report their wealth after completing state duties.

The government regulation for a human rights tribunal was swiftly passed on Monday just a week after Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi said the government would issue such a law.

The regulation was issued under the backdrop of the government's rejection of an international human rights inquiry into alleged human rights abuses following the Aug. 30 ballot in East Timor.

Indonesia immediately claimed that there was no need for such an international inquiry as it would set up its own fact-finding team on East Timor.

The government regulation defines the work of a national rights tribunal as covering cases which include ethnic cleansing, slavery, systematical discrimination and forced disappearance.

Punishment for offenders range, in accordance to the crime, from the death sentence to one year in jail.

The regulation defined the tribunal as a special court formed under the auspices of the public court. (prb)