Office praised for stopping terrorists
Office praised for stopping terrorists
Abdul Khalik and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri praised on Thursday the Attorney
General's Office (AGO) for its success in bringing terror and
drug trafficking suspects to justice over the last few years.
Before hundreds of prosecutors, who were commemorating the
44th anniversary of the institution here, the President said
criticism had been directed to the office because the public was
uninformed about its achievements.
"The success of prosecutors to bring terror suspects in Bali
and Jakarta to court is no small achievement. While in many
countries the fight against terrorism is merely rhetoric, we keep
bringing terror perpetrators to justice," said Megawati.
She also complimented prosecutors for combating organized
crime and seeking the maximum punishment for drug dealers in
recent years.
The President acknowledged that a number of prosecutors might
spoil the corps' image because of their lust for money and their
incapability to perform their duty.
"Therefore, all prosecutors must keep trying to improve their
knowledge, skills and professional abilities. We should pay
attention to, and focus on, the technical and professional skills
of prosecutors," she said.
Law expert Luhut M. Pangaribuan, however, dismissed the
President's remarks, saying the performance of state prosecutors
was far from satisfactory because only a few corruption and other
high-profile cases had been brought to court.
"I think the Attorney General's Office and prosecutors have
failed to carry out their duty as one of the three pillars of our
legal system. They have instead contributed to weak law
enforcement in the country," said Luhut.
The office has, so far, been unable to bring many high profile
cases, such as the corruption case involving former President
Soeharto, the alleged misuse of hundreds of trillions of rupiah
in Bank Indonesia liquidity loans (BLBI) and many other banking
scandals to court.
The office has also failed to collect necessary evidence in
its probe into the alleged masterminds of a shooting incident at
Trisakti University and ensuing riots in May 1998. Repeatedly,
prosecutors have returned case files submitted by the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), citing a lack of
evidence.
Luhut said the poor record had nothing to do with the
prosecutors' capability, but more their integrity.
"They fail to resolve many high-profile cases because they
lack commitment to uphold the law and strong leadership," said
Luhut.
He said Megawati's compliment was politically motivated as she
did not want to mock her own administration's performance in law
enforcement, particularly as she looks set to contest the second
round of the presidential election.