Puteh ruling hailed as 'good start'

Puteh ruling 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)