S'pore extradition pact nearly inked

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After six rounds of negotiations, the government is making progress on an extradition treaty with neighboring Singapore and expects to complete the deal soon, a minister says.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said on Wednesday 13 of 19 articles in the treaty had been finalized, with the remaining articles to be discussed during the next round of negotiations in Singapore.

The last round of talks was held on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15 in Jakarta. Indonesian was represented at the talks by officials from Hamid's office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General's Office.

Among the issues waiting to be resolved are Article 2 on extraditable offenses, Article 3 on territorial applications and Article 4 on exceptions to extradition.

Article 5 on extradition requests and supporting documents, and Article 13 on evidence have been finalized, Hamid said during a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III on legal and security affairs.

Hamid said the finalization of the extradition treaty was expected to be accompanied by a cooperation agreement between the two countries on defense affairs.

Talks on the extradition treaty began after a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long in November 2004.

Singapore currently has extradition treaties only with the United States and Great Britain. Indonesia began pushing for an extradition agreement with the island-state after several corruption suspects fled to Singapore to avoid prosecution at home.

The public has become increasingly impatient for the government to bring back from Singapore and try bankers who abused state funds in the wake of the late 1990s financial crisis.

Without an extradition agreement, these suspects cannot be sent back to Indonesia, even at the request of Jakarta.