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Equality before the law

Jakarta Post Editorial - July 15, 2014

New law shields House members from corruption investigations – Jakarta Post. July 14, 2014
KPK slams House over rule changes – Jakarta Post. July 12, 2014
KPK charges minister in haj graft – Jakarta Post. May 23, 2014
Graft suspect Suryadharma refuses to resign, Prabowo pledges support – Jakarta Globe. May 23, 2014
Indonesian politics remain graft ridden – Jakarta Globe. April 29, 2014

Jakarta – If one asks why the country's corruption index score remains disappointingly low despite the hard-fought campaign against graft over the last decade, the answer is, among other things, resistance from within the House of Representatives.

In a blatant move to undermine the war on corruption, the grand coalition of political parties that are supposed to control the House for the next five years passed last week a bill on legislative institutions, popularly known by acronym MD3, that will shield politicians from corruption investigations launched by law enforcement agencies, including the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Despite criticism of the bill from corruption watchdogs and a walkout by representatives of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Hanura Party, the coalition's show of force was billed as a victory by presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto in a televised statement after voting on Wednesday.

Indeed, the House factions that passed the bill on the eve of the July 9 presidential election are supporters of Prabowo and his running mate Hatta Rajasa. Not any single party represented in the House is free from graft allegations, as seen in the slate of ongoing KPK investigations, but passage of the bill last week seems to us a conspiracy aimed to revive the immunity and impunity politicians used to enjoy in the New Order era and in the period before the KPK was formed back in 2004.

Among the proponents of the bill is the Democratic Party, whose chairman President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has always claimed to encourage equality before the law in the fight against corruption. In fairness, he has fulfilled that pledge, as he has let the KPK bring to justice party leaders and members of his Cabinet implicated in graft. But his commitment has apparently faltered in the case of the MD3 Law.

Article 245 of the new law says law enforcement agencies require the consent of the House's ethics council before they can summon lawmakers implicated in criminal cases. That approval is null, however, in the event of a lawmaker being caught red-handed committing crimes or being suspected of perpetrating crimes punishable by life in prison or death.

The House's move to undermine corruption eradication is not new, as seen in recent initiatives to amend the KPK Law, the Criminal Code and the Criminal Law Procedures Code, all aimed at reducing the extraordinary powers the commission needs to combat the extraordinary crime of corruption.

KPK chief Abraham Samad insists the anticorruption body will not heed the MD3 Law, but only the KPK Law, which allows the KPK to bypass bureaucratic procedures that help suspects remove evidence or obstruct the law. Abraham says that as a lex specialis, the KPK Law will supersede the MD3 Law.

Unfortunately Abraham's pledge is wishful thinking, given the legal uncertainty that prevails in the country. The Constitutional Court must therefore hear any judicial review filed against the MD3 Law.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/07/15/editorial-equality-law.html.