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Editorial: Thank you, Anggodo
The moment millions of Indonesians were waiting for finally happened on Thursday when one of the most feared — but most beloved by several police generals and senior prosecutors — corrupt businessmen landed in jail
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he moment millions of Indonesians were waiting for finally happened on Thursday when one of the most feared — but most beloved by several police generals and senior prosecutors — corrupt businessmen landed in jail. Anggodo Widjojo lost his battle with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), at least temporarily. And now that he has been declared a suspect, the commission is obliged to send him to trial at the Corruption Court. And so far, all suspects prosecuted by the KPK have been convicted by this court.
But first of all, this nation must thank Anggodo. His assumption he would remain untouchable forever helped provide the nation with a golden opportunity to bring down all government crooks who helped him. Anggodo could have absconded overseas in the last few months, but he apparently chose to stay because he was certain no one could touch him.
However, with his vast networks among Indonesia’s judicial system, and because so many corrupt officials owe him favors for his past generosity, the imprisonment of Anggodo may not do much to weaken his power. We do hope the Commission, particularly its deputy chairmen, Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, won’t miss this golden opportunity to bring down all the crooks connected to Anggodo.
Earlier, a presidential fact-finding team recommended the prosecution of senior police officers and senior prosecutors at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) whose names were clearly mentioned by Anggodo in telephone conversations wiretapped by the KPK. Here, the KPK has no excuse not to punish all of these suspects because the evidence against them is so blatant and damning. And a failure to bring these corrupt law enforcers to justice will see Indonesia going back toward the top of the world’s most corrupt nations list.
If it hadn’t been for the national public outcry last year, Anggodo would have successfully removed Chandra and Bibit from the KPK. He was very close to bringing the pair to court, although by all means the case against them was very weak. But who could say no to Anggodo before the public protests began?
He was so powerful that even President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono refused to step in, even though the wiretapped conversations clearly mentioned Yudhoyono as one of the top officials who Anggodo and his gang believed was fully on side. It is strange that while he was over-sensitive toward critics, Yudhoyono seemed very tolerant of Anggodo who humiliated him to an unbelievable extent.
Perhaps only a few Indonesians are still confident that the President and his government can thoroughly eradicate judicial corruption. But who still has confidence in the AGO and the National Police?
It is true that Yudhoyono has set up a special task force to eradicate judicial corruption. But based on the experiences of previous governments, such teams often end up total failures, even if initially they enjoy high-profile publicity in the media.
So again, we are lucky Anggodo was overconfident with his power.
And the KPK is the only institution we still can rely on to uphold justice against bandits who hide behind state powers to steal from the state coffers.
