Nazaruddin jail visit is legal: Legislators

As criticism is leveled at lawmaker Muhammad Nasir, who has been accused of abusing his power by visiting graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin at Cipinang Penitentiary, a number of House of Representatives (DPR) members have returned the special ID cards they had previously received from the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

The special ID cards were given to legislators to provide them easy access anytime they wanted to visit prisons for “supervision”. However, Nasir’s visit to Cipinang to meet his brother Nazaruddin was considered abuse of power, as it took place at night under clandestine circumstances.

In a protest following the exposure of Nasir’s visit, several House members returned their ID cards to the minister on Monday.

“I have unlimited access to supervise penitentiaries with or without this ID card because I am a member of the House. Therefore, I will no longer use this,” House member Syarifuddin Sudding of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) said at a meeting with Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin on Monday.

Handing in his card to the ministry, he emphasized that none of the lawmakers had requested the cards in the first place.

Five fellow lawmakers — Aziz Syamsuddin and Nudirman Munir from the Golkar Party, Ahmad Yani from the United Development Party (PPP), Nasir Jamil from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Trimedya Panjaitan from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) — soon joined Sudding.

“I don’t need the ID card to access a penitentiary for supervision because I believe most people are already familiar with me. However, the ID card is for House members who are not yet widely known, as well as to ensure the mechanism runs well. Even so, I decided to return my card, as it has become a source of conflict,” Ahmad Yani told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana exposed the late night visit to the media by announcing that he has seen footage from closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) inside Nazaruddin’s cell showing Nasir and two lawyers for graft convict Mindo Rosalina Manullang — Jufri Taufik and Arief Rahman — conversing with the former Democratic Party treasurer, who is standing trial over corruption allegations connected to the construction of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games athletes’w village in Palembang, South Sumatra.

Commission III lawmakers had defended Nasir’s visit, saying that it was legal. However, a few legislators, such as Nasir Jamil from the PKS, had previously condemned the visit as illegal, saying that “the free access granted by the Law and Human Rights Ministry should not be abused for personal reasons and members of the Commission are obliged to notify their leaders before they make such a visit, which Nasir did not do”.