Jail cuts for inmates questioned
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The granting of sentence remissions to some 103,000 prisoners in observance of Independence Day has come under fire, with observers noting the recipients included high-profile inmates convicted of terrorism, murder and corruption.
Although the move is justified by a government regulation, some critics could not understand why former National Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan was among the prisoners who received sentence cuts on Aug. 17, when he had began serving his two-year term just two days earlier for graft.
Many have also questioned why former president Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who was convicted of murdering a high court judge and illegal gun possession, also had his 10-year prison term cut by more than a year without any public explanation. Earlier this year, Tommy's then 15-year sentence was cut by five years by the Supreme Court.
Controversy also surfaced over the granting of remissions to those convicted for terrorism offenses and Australia has protested Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's sentence cut of four and a-half months from his 30-month jail term for conspiracy to commit terrorism.
Legal experts urged the government on Friday to be transparent when it gave sentence remissions to inmates in order to empower the prison's function as correctional institution.
"As correctional institutions, all prisons should have reports on all prisoners which should be evaluated before giving them sentence remissions," said Rudi Satrio from the University of Indonesia.
Rudi believed many prisoners received jail cuts because of their "better relations" with prison chiefs, wardens and other top officials.
Rudi and Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, another legal expert from the same university, said while Government Regulation No. 32/1995 stipulated that all prisoners had the right to receive remissions, they were not automatically entitled to jail term reductions every Independence Day or religious celebration.
"First of all, the government must be transparent as to why Tommy, Rahardi and Ba'asyir were granted sentence remissions to avoid any confusion among the public," Rudi said.
The chief of the Nusakambangan prison in Cilacap, Central Java, where Tommy is serving his term, should have explained the reasons for Tommy's reduction, he said.
Rudi said he believed Ba'asyir was granted the remission because of a perceived "unfair" decision by the court that sentenced Ba'asyir to imprisonment for conspiracy leading to the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings. The bombs killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
However, Rudi urged the Australian government not to intervene into Indonesia's internal affairs regarding Ba'asyir.
Harkristuti, meanwhile, said Rahardi was entitled to sentence cut of two months not because he had gone to jail two days before Independence Day but because he had earlier been detained for 10 months last year. Such a sentence remission was a right all inmates were entitled to, she said.
Rudi and Harkristuti agreed with calls for the government to revise the regulation so the decisions granting sentence remissions would seen as be fair and just.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said the government was considering a plan to revise the regulations on remissions to exempt prisoners convicted of serious crimes.