Puteh conviction hailed as 'good start'
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Legal experts hailed on Tuesday the conviction of Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh, saying it should serve as evidence of the government's zero tolerance against corrupt officials.
It could also be a "good start" to giving momentum to the national antigraft campaign, particularly against high-profile criminals from state agencies, they added.
"The case of Puteh is considered small in terms of total money embezzled, relative to other corruption cases, where the perpetrators remain free. But it would have been absurd if Puteh was acquitted," legal expert Frans Hendra Winarta told The Jakarta Post.
On Monday, the Anticorruption Court jailed Puteh for 10 years for the illegal markup in the purchase of a Russian-made helicopter in 2001. The case caused the state to lose Rp 3.7 billion (approximately US$400).
The verdict was handed down by the panel of five judges, although two of them -- both career judges -- gave a dissenting opinion against the court decision.
Frans said he hoped other law enforcement agencies and the public, at large, would also show their support for such a conviction by reporting all the other, bigger cases of corruption.
He praised the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which prosecuted Puteh, for proving itself to be capable of preventing intervention from other authorities that may have tried to influence the judges or prosecutors into releasing the governor.
Another legal expert, Luhut Pangaribuan, said the conviction of Puteh indicated sincerity on the part of the KPK to fight corruption in Indonesia, that is, unless he were acquitted on appeal.
Many fear that Puteh could be freed by the appeal courts due to the principle of retroactivity as his lawyers have repeatedly argued that the Anticorruption Court should not be allowed to try a case in which the crime took place before the court's establishment in late 2002.
Commenting on the dissenting opinions offered by two of the five judges, Luhut said the most important thing was the substance of their arguments.
"If they referred only to the retroactivity principle, that's not important. The substance is more significant," he said without elaborating.
However, Rudy Satrio of the University of Indonesia said the people should still not expect too much in terms law enforcement in Indonesia, despite the Puteh conviction.
"This is still far from satisfactory, because there will be a judicial review process against this conviction," Rudy told the Post.
He said the fact that many law enforcers themselves lacked an understanding about what constituted an abuse of power could prompt many officials to pervert justice. (004)