New AG promises better cooperation with police

JAKARTA (JP): Newly installed Attorney General Soedjono Chanafiah Atmonegoro promised to settle a jurisdiction dispute between his office and the National Police Headquarters yesterday.

Soedjono said the two law enforcement institutions should cooperate and avoid confrontation when enforcing the law.

"We must avoid clashing... We must be a strong team and assist the President," Soedjono said after being sworn into office by President Soeharto at the State Palace.

Soedjono replaced Singgih, who held the position for five years. He and Sjahril Sabirin, the governor of Bank Indonesia, hold the same rank as cabinet ministers.

The President swore in his new cabinet on Monday. Sjahril was installed earlier in February.

"We must strengthen coordination as the key (to good performance)," said Soedjono.

Police and the Attorney General's Office have been at odds for some time over the investigation of corruption cases. Officials from the two bodies recently issued contradictory statements on who was in charge of such cases.

The 1971 anti-corruption law gives the Attorney General's Office sole authority to investigate corruption.

However, National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo countered by arguing that the 1997 police law allows police to investigate any crime, including corruption.

Jakarta City Police sparked controversy last December when officers questioned three directors dismissed from the central bank about alleged corruption.

Police also summoned three prosecutors for questioning over allegations that they told witnesses to lie to the North Jakarta District Court trial investigating the killing of gambling boss Nyo Beng Seng.

However, media reports suggested that the incident was an act of revenge on the part of police, after prosecutors in Yogyakarta supported the acquittal of a police suspect in the murder of a journalist in the city.

Separately, new Minister of Justice Muladi said legal reform would be top of his agenda over the next five years.

"The supremacy of the law is an indication of democracy. Our laws must be excellent... because a good country has a good rule of law," Muladi said after attending the ceremony installing Soedjono in office yesterday.

Soedjono is a former junior attorney general. He has risen through the ranks of the Indonesian justice system and is also a former vice attorney general.

Born in Pamekasan, Madura Island in East Java, on June 4, 1939, Soedjono graduated from the Surabaya-based Airlangga University's law school in 1964.

He began his career as assistant for intelligence and operations at the Lampung provincial prosecutors' office, according to Kompas daily.

He went on to become chief of prosecutors' offices in a number of districts, and rose to become chief of provincial prosecutors' offices in West Nusa Tenggara and East Java. (prb)