TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Commentary: Gayus scandal: Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground

Can you put a price tag on freedom? If you are loaded with money, you can

Endy M. Bayuni (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, November 16, 2010

Share This Article

Change Size

Commentary: Gayus scandal: Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground

Can you put a price tag on freedom? If you are loaded with money, you can.

The revelation that Gayus Tambunan, the junior tax officer at the center of a major corruption investigation, has been going in and out of his Jakarta detention cell during five months under police custody, illustrates that justice and freedom are commodities that can be had in this country, for the right amount of money.

Behind the laughter upon seeing Gayus wearing a wig that barely concealed his identity while watching an international tennis tournament in Bali is actually a feeling of revulsion that many people must feel today, not so much at Gayus as at our justice system.

Those who are most responsible for the administration and enforcement of the laws are making a complete mockery of the justice system. Their behavior is undermining the credibility and integrity of the entire legal system. If those guardians of the legal system themselves flaunt the laws, can you seriously expect the people to respect them?

Indonesia is sure to be heading toward anarchy where the only laws that are upheld are the laws of economic supply and demand, and the laws of the jungle. There is no place for justice in this kind of situation. There is already evidence that more and more people are disregarding the law. The Gayus scandal would encourage more people to do the same.

The Gayus investigation has lived up to its original billing as a case of mafia practice in the courts of law. The revelation about his daily sojourns outside his cell tells us that many others under detention or those already convicted for crimes have also been doing it.

Gayus tells us that everybody is on the take: The police, the prison wardens, the government prosecutors, the judges and the lawyers. His presence at the tennis match also attended by tycoon/Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie raised some questions. Gayus, as we know, had moonlighted as a tax consultant for Bakrie to fix his tax refunds.

Corruption in our legal system is so systemic that no one appears to be able to stop it. Instead, almost everybody joins in this game of give and take. Gayus is only taking advantage of a system that is already corrupt by design.

As reported by Koran Tempo, Gayus has left his cell on 68 occasions, paying off Rp 368 million (US$41,000) to the chief warden, and up to Rp 6 million to the warden officers. Another major corruption suspect, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who took on the role of a hero for blowing the whistle on his colleagues in the police force, has also been leaving his cell every weekend since July for a price tag of Rp 10 million and a package of basic food necessities for his wardens, according to Koran Tempo.

The list goes on and on enough for anyone to conclude that this sort of deal is going on all the time behind the prison walls. Justice and freedom are for sale.

Typically, the National Police were quick to contain the damage by singling out their officers directly responsible for watching over Gayus.

The police have sent signals that, unless anyone has evidence to the contrary, this is an isolated case. Case closed, or so they wished.

Kudos to Tempo and other media outlets for carrying out the investigation on the Gayus prison scandal and bringing the case to light. The media and the public should not settle for the police quick fix, and demand that the entire legal system be overhauled, once and for all.

Many heads must roll, in the law enforcement agencies and in the courts of law, in order to restore the public confidence in our legal system. The credibility and integrity of our courts is at stake.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has been unusually quiet for a crisis that is equally explosive in terms of its impact on the nation’s life as the Mount Merapi eruption. He should first and foremost appoint the new attorney general, certainly someone from outside the current ranks of government prosecutors. And he should certainly step in to make sure that Indonesia moves forward with badly needed reforms in the legal sector.

The cost of failing to act is that justice, and ultimately democracy and freedom will be buried in the ground.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.