Legislator Warns Against Chasing Targets and Arbitrarily Uncovering Cases
Member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Rudianto Lallo, has spotlighted the phenomenon at the District Prosecutor’s Offices (Kejari) and High Prosecutor’s Offices (Kejati), which are allegedly inclined to seek out faults among the public to fulfil targets for handling corruption cases (tipikor). Rudianto assessed that the policy of the Attorney General’s leadership, which positions the quantity of corruption case handling as a primary variable of success, has led Kejari and Kejati to compete in managing cases.
“I have been speaking from the beginning about the Attorney General’s leadership policy that always potentially targets making corruption case handling one of the success variables. In the end, from the Kejati level down to Kejari, they race to find cases, yes. So what happens? When Kejari is targeted with a certain number of cases, say 5 cases, Kejati 10 cases, what occurs is that the District Prosecutor’s Office is driven to hunt for cases,” Rudianto stated during a hearing with the Chief Prosecutor of Karo at Commission III of DPR RI on Thursday (2/7).
Rudianto emphasised that this practice of seeking out faults has become a serious problem for law enforcement today. He cited the alleged corruption case in the production of a village profile video affecting videographer Amsal Sitepu as real evidence of an irrational legal process, particularly in evaluating services in the creative industry.
“If they hunt for cases and seek out faults, this is the problem today. Yes, we all know reports from various regions, areas, provinces, districts/cities, how people are repeatedly summoned by law enforcers. Capital expenditures are questioned, this is just an example. What Amsal Sitepu experienced must be happening in other regions as well. Yes, it’s unreasonable; the case involves a markup of 1 million, Sir. This is about services, for example, in the creative industry,” said the NasDem Party politician.
Rudianto reminded the ranks of the Adhyaksa Corps to return to the noble essence of the institution by quoting a message from former Attorney General Suprapto. According to him, strong public reaction to a case is a clear indicator that justice is absent in that process.
“This is what I always say, quoting Attorney General Suprapto’s statement, which he repeated many times: Prosecutors are prohibited from seeking out faults; finding faults is okay, but seeking them out is not justified. Thus, this case sparks public reaction. A case that sparks public reaction 1000% means the process is considered unjust,” he added.
He further stated that Commission III of DPR will continue to consistently monitor public aspirations who feel unfairly treated by rogue law enforcers.
“That’s why under the leadership of Commission III’s Bang Habiburokhman so far, our focus in Commission III has been to hold hearings on the voices of justice brought by our people below,” Rudianto concluded.