Gus Dur disagrees with death sentence for corruptors

Jakarta, NU Online
Former president KH Abdurrahman Whid (Gus Dur) recently said that he disagreed with the decision to impose death sentence for corruptors.

The chairman of the Advisory Board of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said it was more than enough to reduce corruption in the country if "the emerging law has relatively been well implemented."<>

While lawmakers, officials and anti-graft activists have thrown their weight behind calls for the implementation of death penalty for some forms of corruption, while also saying current criteria and procedures for imposing the sentence lack clarity.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Agung Laksono recently said he fully supported capital punishment for those found guilty of major corruption to deter other people from engaging in graft.

"In other countries where corruption is widespread, there was a drastic decline in the number of graft cases after the death penalty came into effect," he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

Agung, a seasoned Golkar Party politician, said graft convicts deserved the death penalty because the crime damaged not only one or two families but all society.

Corruption has remained widespread in the country a decade after political reform, which mandated eradication of corruption as one of its main priorities.

In the past six months alone, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested six active House lawmakers and scores of high-ranking officials including a former Bank Indonesia governor. A number of governors and former ministers have been jailed for graft since the creation of the KPK in 2004.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has encouraged public discussion of the death penalty for graft convicts, despite objections from human rights groups.

KPK deputy chairman for prevention Haryono Umar also expressed support for the death penalty for some of those found guilty.

"I think we must be tough on extraordinary corruption," he said.

Senior lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said the KPK law opened the possibility of seeking the death penalty for corruption, adding it was necessary for the state to create clearer regulations.

"Article 2 of the law on the KPK states those found guilty of corruption can be subject to capital punishment in cases of war, natural disasters and crises. But I think a judge needs clearer guidance for meting out such a punishment," Gayus said.

He said capital punishment could be restricted to those who adversely affect the people by stealing state money, such as corruption in a time of natural disaster or embezzlement of education and health funds for the poor.

Firdaus Ilyas of Indonesia Corruption Watch said that although the death penalty remained controversial in such cases, he said judges had the power to do impose it.

"To avoid arbitrary judgment, I think the criteria should take into account the scale of impact on the people," he said. (rif)