New AG promises better cooperation with police
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)