New antigraft decree planned

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would issue a new anticorruption decree in a bid to make the country's antigraft drive "more focused" on government institutions.

"I will issue a new decree on the anticorruption drive in the near future," he said in a speech delivered at the opening of the the National Development Planning Meeting hosted by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) at the State Palace on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by senior ministers and governors from across the country.

The president said that the new decree would be issued to enable law enforcers focus more on "some areas that are prone to corruption". He did not provide details.

The new decree would likely not take the form of a presidential instruction, Susilo said. He added that the presidential instruction on antigraft measures issued earlier "was a generic one".

In December last year, Susilo issued Presidential Instruction No. 5/2004 on the country's national anticorruption plan. Susilo has been trying to demonstrate his commitment to fighting corruption since taking office in October last year.

Anticorruption activists have criticized Susilo's decision to issue the instruction, saying that an instruction was not a strong enough legal instrument.

The government is currently drafting a government regulation in lieu of law on the accelerated eradication of corruption

It had promised to issue the regulation some three months after the president took office, but postponed it for further deliberation following public concerns that the regulation could violate the rights of suspects.

Susilo has said on many occasions that curbing rampant corruption in the country will be among his administration's top priorities. The anticorruption drive was given a boost when the Anticorruption Court on Monday handed down a 10-year-jail on suspended Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh following his conviction on corruption charges.

Elsewhere, Susilo said that the government was determined to bring convicted graft defendants who fled abroad to justice.

"We want to get those who have been convicted but absconded," he said.

The government, the President said, will hunt down the fugitives and their assets abroad.

Earlier this year, the government formed a special team, led by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, to hunt down graft suspects who had fled the country and bring back the stolen funds.

The team has focused its work on the clinching of an extradition treaty with Singapore.

Many high profile Indonesian corruption suspects and convicts are reportedly living in Singapore, where they are believed to have also parked their ill-gotten wealth.

Among the graft suspects believed to be residing in Singapore are Maria Lumowa (a suspect in the Bank BNI scandal), Sudjiono Timan (a former top executive of state-owned investment firm PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia), and dozens of dodgy bankers who allegedly misused trillions of rupiah worth of state funds intended to bail out banks during the late 1990s financial crisis.