Mahfud offers compromise for alleged corruptors

Mahfud offers compromise for alleged corruptors

JAKARTA (JP): Newly installed Minister of Justice and Human
Rights Mahfud M.D. has suggested that compromises be made in the
case of corruption suspects.

Mahfud said on Friday that cases of graft committed in the
past had become a major headache for the country during
Abdurrahman Wahid's administration.

"The question is, how do we handle corruption?" he said.

He said that one option was to "amputate" all state officials
who had hampered efforts to curb corruption. Another option is to
set aside past cases.

"The last option is to reconciliate (with corruptors) or to
forgive (them)," he told journalists after taking the helm at his
new office.

He implied that corruption in the past was done collectively
since the crime was inevitable for those who wanted to build a
career in the government back then.

The idea of reconciliation for corruptors was first introduced
during the drafting of revisions to Anticorruption Law No.
31/1999, but was dropped before the bill was submitted to the
House of Representatives last month.

The drafting team had suggested that alleged corruptors pay a
certain amount of money to recover the state losses they caused
so they did not have to face investigation or trial.

The debate is still to continue along with a plan to institute
a law on recovering state wealth.

Mahfud, former minister of defense, is replacing Marsillam
Simanjuntak, who is now the attorney general.

The two were officially installed on Friday morning by
President Abdurrahman after being appointed on July 10, following
the sudden death of Baharuddin Lopa on a trip to Saudi Arabia to
hand over his ambassadorial post.

Mahfud admitted that during the new administration the efforts
to eradicate corruption had not worked.

"It is an never-ending problem because the crimes are
committed in a sophisticated manner as if they were organized,
while most from the past regime are involved. And now they are
trying to halt legal proceedings since we don't have a powerful
enough law to solve this problem.

"To make it worse, those who claim to be reformists become
corruptors as soon as they get a position in this new
administration," he remarked.

Mahfud launched his first step to curb bribery in judiciary
institutions by establishing a nonstructural team led by noted
law practitioner Todung Mulya Lubis to gather reports on
violations by law enforcement personnel, including judges and
lawyers.

Separately, newly inducted Attorney General Marsillam
Simandjuntak vowed to handle crimes which largely harm people's
interests, including corruption, in his own way.

Marsillam implored people not to compare him with the late
Lopa, who he said was much a "bigger" name, and not to place too
high an expectation on him that he would be able to emulate his
predecessor.

"Lopa's feet were too big for me. I cannot fill his shoes. If
I force myself to wear them, I may stumble and fall," Marsillam
said in a reception after the handover ceremony from acting
attorney general Soeparman at the Attorney General's Office on
Friday.

He said that one hall in the office would be officially named
after Lopa during the Attorney General's Office's anniversary on
Sunday.

On Thursday, President Abdurrahman repeated his commitment to
upholding the supremacy of the law by challenging the Supreme
Court to try all suspects of corruption, including any members of
his family.

He said in Kediri, East Java, that there were rumors that some
of his relatives were involvement in corruption.

"If there is suspicion, investigate. If necessary, bring them
to court. Whether it be my daughter, my brother or my nephew,
whoever, if they are involved, bring them to court," he said.
(bby)