Rising Corruption Among Regional Heads: Fahri Hamzah Proposes Establishment of Ethics Court
The Deputy Chairperson of Partai Gelora, Fahri Hamzah, believes that the increasing number of corruption cases involving public officials, particularly regional heads, indicates a need for new instruments to strengthen the prevention of misconduct. He has proposed the formation of an Ethics Court as a mechanism to take swift action against ethical violations before they develop into criminal corruption.
According to Fahri, Indonesia currently only possesses a legal judicial system, while a comprehensive ethics judicial mechanism is unavailable. Consequently, various breaches of official conduct must undergo lengthy criminal legal processes before sanctions can be imposed.
“We already have a legal judiciary, but we do not yet have a comprehensive ethics judiciary,” Fahri stated during a study titled ‘Dissecting the Anatomy of Corruption in Indonesia’, according to a press release on Saturday (1/8).
He explained that an Ethics Court could serve as an expedited track to process officials proven to have committed serious ethical violations or conflicts of interest. The rulings could range from reprimands to dismissal, without the need to wait for time-consuming criminal proceedings.
“If there were an Ethics Court, the process would be simpler and faster. The decisions would be decisive, ranging from warnings to dismissal. As soon as an official’s actions are deemed unethical, such as a conflict of interest, they can be reported to the ethics court, processed, and then dismissed so they can no longer hold office. This serves as prevention before it crosses over into criminal corruption,” he said.
The former member of the House of Representatives (DPR) assessed that eradicating corruption cannot rely solely on law enforcement. He argued that corruption must be addressed through two simultaneous approaches: a systemic approach through law and an individual approach through ethics.
“When we speak of corruption as a crime, the instrument for reading it is the law, which ends in the judicial system. But it is not just about the system; there is the element of ‘every person’ involved, whether they are individual leaders or bureaucrats. Therefore, in addition to law for systemic enforcement, there is the element of ethics for the individual,” Fahran noted.
Consequently, Partai Gelora is committed to pushing for the establishment of an Ethics Court as part of strengthening the corruption prevention system, ensuring that official misconduct can be halted at an early stage before causing state losses.