Yamin, a rare breed of prosecutor

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor , Jakarta

It's a sin to find fault with and prosecute an innocent person while letting criminals go free.

So goes the principle of senior prosecutor Mohammad Yamin, one of four winners of the maiden Bung Hatta Anticorruption Award.

However, Yamin knows only too well that it is not easy to uphold this principle because suspects know loopholes in the law equally well. Moreover, prosecutors may have differing perceptions of the same case. The complicated legal proceedings that lead to a verdict are another challenge.

"In Hong Kong, if a civil servant drives a luxury car that he probably cannot afford to buy, the prosecutor can take him to court for alleged corruption. The defendant then has to prove that nothing is illegal," Yamin, 59, said.

In Indonesia, the anticorruption law stipulates that the defendant's failure to satisfactorily explain the source of his or her wealth provides a good indication that a crime may have been committed. But the prosecutor still has to prove it.

This loophole has provoked some legal experts to urge a revision of the anticorruption law to allow for a shift in the burden of proof. However, there has not been a positive response from either legislators or the government.

"It's not easy to prove wrongdoing in a corruption case, but I'm sure that if we are persistent, we should be able to do so," said Yamin.

He acknowledged that in some cases, prosecutors did not do their utmost to prove the crime, and this has reflected badly on the image of law enforcers.

Many people are cynical about law enforcement in the country due to many controversial court rulings. In August, the Attorney General's Office halted its investigation into alleged corruption by former strongman Soeharto's cronies Prajogo Pangestu and Djoko Ramiadji and his daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana.

Earlier this year, the government ignored a public demand for suspension of Attorney General M.A. Rachman for alleged corruption after he allegedly made a false report about his wealth to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission. President Megawati, however, rejected the request, while prosecutor Kito Irkhamni, the whistle-blower who exposed Rachman's efforts to conceal some of his wealth from his report to the audit commission, was sent to jail.

Yamin, who became head of the Attorney General's Office training center in May last year, is doing his best to improve the image of prosecutors. Since assuming the post, he has extended the training period of prosecutor candidates from four months to six months. After the new regulation was implemented, 18 of 53 students failed in January this year. Last month, only seven failed.

To become a prosecutor, a law school graduate must work for two years at the prosecutor's office. If they are good, they may later be sent to the training center.

The recruitment process has also been tightened up, in order to improve the quality of the human resources. Yamin said that his office worked in cooperation with a private party to examine the test result of the applicants for this year's recruitment.

"This is to prevent any manipulation of the results," he said.

Yamin was born in the small town of Palopo, South Sulawesi, in 1944. His father, a kampong chief, died when Yamin was only two years old. His two siblings also died very young. Yamin, who was taken care of by his uncle, went to the now-defunct school of judges and prosecutors, and graduated in 1965. He later obtained a law degree from Hasanuddin University, Makassar.

"When I was still at junior high school I often passed the district court on my way to school and liked to watch the trial sessions. I was so impressed by prosecutors, who looked great in their robes," he said.

Yamin was married in 1972, with his grandmother acting as the matchmaker. "It was an arranged marriage. I had no self- confidence when it came to dating women ...," he recalled.

But there has been no problem with his marriage, as Yamin loves his wife, a modest woman who is a graduate of Economics Junior High School, and has five children.

"None of my children wants to be a prosecutor -- maybe because they've noticed that their father is not rich," he quipped.

Yamin started his career as a prosecutor in 1966 in Soppeng, South Sulawesi, and was later transferred to Makassar. When the late Baharuddin Lopa became chief of the South Sulawesi Provincial Prosecutor's Office he was assigned to handle the corruption case involving businessman Tony Gozal. However, Yamin had to pass it on to his colleagues because he was about to embark on a training course in Canberra, Australia. He returned in July 1985, the day before the court freed Tony of all charges.

Yamin immediately filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, which later sentenced the defendant to seven years. Tony, in his defense, appealed and was eventually sentenced to five years in jail.

Yamin had been the head of the Kota Baru Prosecutor's Office in South Kalimantan and head of the security and order section at the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office before he was promoted in 1999 to the Attorney General's Office, where he handled financial and other special crimes, including corruption.

Yamin said that he had been assigned to investigate the case of former president Soeharto, but the assignment was aborted at the last minute without explanation.

"I was about to go to Cendana (the road where Soeharto lives), when I was told to return to the office," said the softly-spoken prosecutor.

One of the major corruption cases he handled here was the abuse of power by Maman Suparman, deputy head of the Jakarta branch of Bank Bapindo, in 1994. Yamin asked the court to sentence the defendant to 17 years in jail for illegally providing credit to notorious businessman Eddie Tanzil, but the judges gave him only nine years. Yamin is currently handling the graft case of Nurdin Halid, a powerful businessman and legislator from Makassar.

Nurdin was brought before the Makassar District Court for alleged corruption last year, but the prosecutor later asked the court to exonerate him of all charges.

Prosecutors are now investigating two separate cases involving Nurdin. The crimes allegedly occurred in two different places, in Jakarta and Manado, North Sulawesi. A letter of consent from the president is required to question the suspect because he is a member of a legislative body. Prosecutors in Manado have not yet secured the required letter of consent, a year after they made the request, according to Yamin.

While many criticize the government for the lack of political will to combat corruption, they praise the plan to establish the Commission for Eradication of Corruption (KPTK) to fulfill the requirements of Anticorruption Law No. 30/2002. The selection process for its members is under way and it is hoped that the commission will be able to start its work by Dec. 27.

"The commission is a 'superbody,' which has enormous power to handle corruption cases. It can even question legislators without seeking the president's permission," said Yamin, who has applied to become a commission member.