President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono renewed his warning Wednesday that he will issue a regulation-in-lieu-of-law unless the corruption court bill is passed into law.
"It is better for both the government and the House of Representatives to use the given deadline of Dec. 19 to ensure that all articles in the law are in line with the nation's spirit to more effectively combat corruption," Yudhoyono said during a press conference at the Presidential Office.
"The spirit means making an effort to combat graft properly. Don't be compelled *to endorse the bill* when some crucial issues have not yet been properly addressed," he added.
The President has not responded to claims that a systematic attempt is being made to weaken the KPK, but he did say he supported the antigraft body's authority to wire-tap suspect as long as the authority was not abused.
The bill has met a strong opposition from human rights and corruption watchdogs who see it as part of a plot to dismantle the antigraft body.
The President stressed that he supported the KPK because Indonesia, he said, was still in a transitional period in its fight against corruption and that the body was still needed to discourage corruption.
"In the future, maybe 15, 20 or 30 years from now, when all other law enforcement institutions have been reformed, the KPK may no longer function as it does today," he said.
"Instead, it could serve as a supervisor, a body tasked with ensuring corruption eradication measures work well," he added.
The President said he would issue a regulation unless the bill was endorsed within the next three months.
In 2006, the Constitutional Court ordered the government to pass new legislation on the anticorruption court, which is currently regulated by the 2002 Corruption Law, by the end of 2009.
The President however stopped short of pressing the House to endorse the bill by the end of its term on Sept. 31. The incoming House will have three months to pass the bill.
He also promised to consult the Constitutional Court to ensure that problems surrounding the bill would not disrupt or weaken efforts to combat grafts.
Since it was formed in 2004, the KPK has convicted and jailed a great number of high-profile officials.
Major parties, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, have proposed the decentralization of the KPK and the revocation of its authority to wire-tap and prosecute corrupt public officials, but have yet to officially announced their policy.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) have pledged their support for the KPK's current authority.
Nursyahbani Katjasungkana from the National Awakening Party's (PKB) caucus in the House, told The Jakarta Post that she was very pleased to hear the President's commitment to issue a regulation to save the Corruption Court Bill.
"Alhamdullilah *thanks be to God* for this decision," she said, adding the current deliberation has derailed the bill.
Nursyahbani said previously that the issuance of a regulation was essential to save the bill, which she said had been severely tarnished and now deviated from its original substance.
"First, the government wanted to establish a corruption court in every province, then there was the idea to change the composition of judges. This has nothing to do with the original mandate from the Constitutional Court to legally regulate the Corruption Court," she said. (hdt)
