Yamin, a rare breed of prosecutor

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.