Limiting rights of suspects

Limiting rights of suspects

From Media Indonesia

In the bill on terrorism proposed by the government, the
rights of terrorist suspects are reduced to a minimum. If it is
established as a law, the suspects, during investigation, will
not have the right to remain silent or be accompanied by a
lawyer. The head of the team proposing the bill said that as
terrorism is categorized as an "extraordinary crime", it is
possible to exclude the normal principles of the due process of
law.

In England, since 1998, the rights of suspects in acts of
terrorism have been very limited, including their right to remain
silent during an investigation. For terrorists, who are usually
not stupid, the weak points or loopholes in the law are easily
used to their advantage, making any related investigation
extremely difficult.

Unfortunately, such limitations are not included in this
country's current laws against corruption. With such limitations,
all unsavory details would easily be revealed to the public,
which would make it easier to eradicate this country's
corruption.

It is not too difficult for a smart lawyer to play around with
the loopholes in our fragile laws. To make things worse,
prosecutors often leave a gap for suspects to escape from
indictment. Judges have also been known to join in this corrupt
game.

It is high time that the utmost attention be given to
corruption cases, so that, like the local saying goes, there are
no more thieves calling others thieves. And everyone in the law
profession should never sell their soul in defending the rights
of corruptors.

TAUFIK KARMADI

Jakarta