SBY swears in Syamsul Bahri despite protest

Matheos V. Messakh ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 03/27/2008 5:52 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono swore in elected General Elections Commission (KPU) member Syamsul Bahri at the presidential palace on Thursday.

Syamsul was elected by the House of Representatives as one of seven KPU members, but the government postponed his inauguration pending the outcome of his graft trial.

The professor at the School of Agriculture at Malang's Brawijaya University was accused of illegally distributing Rp 489.3 million (US$53,545) , allocated by Brawijaya University's Student Research Institute for the construction of Kigumas sugar factory in Malang, to parties involved in the project.

The prosecutors have demanded the court sentence Syamsul to two years in prison, fine him Rp 50 million (US$5,475) and order him to pay Rp 489.3 million in compensation to the state. Syamsul, who was detained for more than a month before the court released him on city detention, was acquitted of all charges by the district court on Mar. 13.

In a previous meeting, the government and the House of Representatives decided the Malang district court's verdict would determine whether Syamsul would be sworn in.

The installment of Syamsul on the poll body was conducted despite calls from anti-corruption organizations for the government to wait until an end in his current court case.

The Malang Corruption Watch (MCW) urged the President and the House speaker not to swear in Syamsul because the district court's verdict was not yet legally binding.

The MCW, the Indonesian Judiciary Monitoring Commission (KPPI), the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute called on the Judicial Commission (KY) to question the presiding judge of the trial.

"There is a high level of political intervention in this case. The president and the House of Representatives should not have made an agreement like this because it is beyond their domain. The agreement has an apparent impact on the judicial process," MCW coordinator Luthfi J. Kurniawan told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Luthfi said there has been a lack of transparency in the judicial process since the agreement was made between the president and the House of Representatives.

Based on the Supreme Court's circulation letter on access to court proceedings files in relation to the public's interest, the MCW formally asked the court to provide the indictment and the verdict to no avail, said Luthfi.

"The state prosecutors have also shown no clear intention to appeal or not. Only after a few days, they told the media they would file an appeal, but are still waiting for an order from the Attorney General Office. This gave the political party a chance to urge the installment even though the judicial process has not end yet," said Luthfi.

Luthfi also said the verdict was "reduced", considering only a time span between 2004 to 2005, although the case publicly emerged in 2001.

The MCW, the Indonesian Judiciary Monitoring Commission (KPPI), the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute called on the Judicial Commission (KY) to question the presiding judge of the trial.(mvm/**)

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