Press Council chief criticizes ban on graft convict remissions

The Press Council chief, who is also a former Supreme Court chief justice, Bagir Manan, has criticized the a recent policy issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, restricting graft convicts ability to gain remissions.

“If the government insists on deliberating on stricter requirements it should use the right legal procedure and produce a new law rather than just a ministerial regulation. The recent policy isn’t legal,” he said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Commenting on this, Indonesia Corruption Watch deputy coordinator Febri Diansyah acknowledged that there was a hot debate on graft convicts’ rights being denied by the policy.

“But the idea is in line with the spirit of fighting graft that prioritizes early parole for graft convicts who want to be justice collaborators instead of those who remain quiet,” he said.