Yusril says death penalty for corruptors already regulated in law
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has stated that the death penalty for corruptors is already regulated in law.
He said that Indonesia already possesses complete legal and institutional instruments, ranging from the threat of capital punishment in the Corruption Eradication Law (Tipikor Law) to the existence of law enforcement agencies including the National Police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), corruption courts in every province, and ad hoc corruption judges at the Supreme Court.
“But in reality corruption continues. From ordinary people to anti-corruption officials such as police, prosecutors and judges, they themselves commit corruption. There was even a Minister of Religious Affairs who committed corruption,” Yusril said when contacted in Jakarta on Thursday.
Therefore, in response to the proposal by the Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) that the death penalty be applied to corruptors, Yusril is of the view that the problem of corruption is not solely related to the severity of criminal sanctions or the existence of law enforcement agencies.
According to him, what is lacking is religious ethics based on the first principle of Pancasila, Belief in the One and Only God, or tawhid in Islam.
He also questioned why religious rituals in Indonesia are increasing, yet moral character has not developed.
“Is there something wrong with religious education, preaching and propagation so far? Is it merely ritual that has not touched the depths of conscience, so that people are unable to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong,” he said.
He explained that the death penalty in the national criminal justice system is an ultimum remedium, namely the most severe punishment that a court can impose upon the demand of the public prosecutor.
In deciding a case, Yusril said that a judge must first assess whether the charge has been legally and convincingly proven based on the facts revealed at trial.
If it is believed to be proven, he continued, the judge imposes a sentence deemed most just and proportionate to the defendant’s actions and their impact on victims, the nation and the state.
He stressed that a judge’s ruling must be based on the preamble “For the sake of justice based on Belief in the One and Only God” and on considerations of conscience, so that a judge must not decide a case on the basis of anger or hatred.
According to him, this is as stated in the Quran: “Let you decide something justly. Let not the hatred of a people cause you to be unjust to them. Be just, for justice is nearer to piety” (Al-Maidah 8).
Yusril revealed that when he served as Minister of Justice from 2001 to 2004, he took the initiative to amend Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption, which later became Law Number 20 of 2001.
In that amendment, he continued, a number of new provisions were added, including those concerning gratification, bribery of state officials, extortion by officials, while retaining the threat of the death penalty for corruptors under certain circumstances.
He said that the certain circumstances referred to in Article 2 of the Corruption Law include the state being in a state of danger, national natural disasters, recidivism, and economic and monetary crises.
He noted that the same principle has also been adopted in the new National Criminal Code (KUHP).
Thus, he said, even if a prosecutor demands the death penalty and the law permits it, a judge must still consider whether the demand is appropriate to impose or not.
“It is possible that after considering all the circumstances, the judge imposes a life sentence,” Yusril said.