Happy hour: Suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy Bibit Samad Rianto (from left), lawyers Bambang Widjojanto, Luhut Pangaribuan and Taufik Basari, and KPK suspended deputy Chandra M. Hamzah burst out laughing during a media conference after attending a judicial review at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta on Wednesday. Luhut quipped that Bibit and Chandra would answer questions only with smiles because they were afraid they would be put back into police detention if they talked to the press. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
The nation might have had its hopes for the integrity of key law enforcement institutions dashed, but experts and activists say there is a ray of hope in the shape of the Constitutional Court (MK) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The latest blow to hit the country’s law enforcement image was the playing of a recording at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
The recording contains conversations that allegedly showed the fabrication of evidence conducted between several high ranking officials from the National Police and the Attorney Generals’ Office (AGO) and the younger brother of graft fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, Anggodo Widjojo, so as to incriminate and detain two KPK deputy chairmen, Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto.
The contents of the recording, which suggested a possible assassination plot against Chandra, while also suggesting that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may have been aware of the incrimination scandal, have astonished the public and ignited anger against both the police and the AGO.
Todung Mulya Lubis, a senior lawyer and the executive director of Transparency International, said Wednesday that the Constitutional Court’s decision to play the tape was “unusual”, because it related to a judicial review of an article in the 2002 KPK law on the dismissal of KPK leaders if they are defendants in a criminal case.
“However, we are grateful to the Constitutional Court for this breakthrough in the legal process that opens our eyes to how rotten Indonesian law enforcement institutions are,” he told The Jakarta Post after a meeting of the verification and investigation team in the KPK case, of which Todung is a part.
“This is an opportunity for us to clearly see how unprofessional the police are and the extent to which case brokers can easily lurk in legal institutions,” he added.
Neta S. Pane from Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) said the public’s thirst for a sense of justice had been properly served by the cooperation between the KPK and the Constitutional Court.
“There is a police integrity issue in this case, so the Constitutional Court made the right decision in playing the tape publicly,” he told the Post.
He also said that both the Constitutional Court and the KPK had given “fresh air” to the public in their desperate search for integrity in the nation’s law enforcement institutions.
The Constitutional Court is commonly known as the negative-legislative institution due to its authority in reviewing laws produced by the House of Representatives and to test whether they go against the spirit of the Constitution.
Since its inception in 2003, many have turned their heads to the Constitutional Court as the last resort whenever they feel that the House has produced laws with flawed substance.
Meanwhile, the KPK has managed to salvage some Rp 139.8 billion (US$14.5 million) of state funds throughout 2009.
“The money comes from 31 successful convictions from 55 prosecutions,” KPK interim chairman Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean said during a hearing with House Commission III on justice and human rights on Wednesday.
Tumpak also said that the salvaged money had been transferred back to both the central government and regional governments that had suffered losses.
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