T

he government has cut prison terms of 182 graft convicts during this year'€™s celebration of Idul Fitri, a controversial move that activists say could hamper the country'€™s efforts to eradicate corruption.

Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said that the remission was one of the rights of the graft convicts that had been stipulated in numerous regulations. '€œSo those who were well-behaved and did not violate the rules were awarded with remissions,'€ he said.

The number, however, is fewer than that of last year when the government granted remissions to a total of 582 graft convicts.

The granting of the remissions this year came on the heels of the enactment of a 2012 government regulations to tighten the extension of remission, parole and other legal rights provided for graft convicts. Under the new regulation, any graft convicts who wanted to receive remissions should serve as justice collaborators first.

Amir, however, said that not all of the graft convicts who received remissions this year were justice collaborators.

Former tax officer Gayus H Tambunan, for example, still received remission despite him not serving as a justice collaborator. Gayus was sentenced to 28 years in prison for multiple convictions; accepting bribes, failing to report gratuities, committing money laundering and bribing police officers to escape detention.

According to Amir, Gayus had been convicted before the new regulation was set effective on Nov. 12, 2012, and thus did not have to be a justice collaborator first in order to be awarded with remission.

He also declined to disclose the name of justice collaborators awarded with remissions during this year'€™s Idul Fitri, saying that the government had to protect their identities.

The government'€™s decision to grant remissions to the graft convicts were lambasted by anti-corruption activists, who said that it was a major drawback to the nation'€™s attempt to combat rampant corruption plaguing the country.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said that the government should be more stern and decisive in regards to awarding remissions to graft convicts.

'€œThe government should have a thorough understanding and a firm stance regarding punishment (to graft convicts),'€ he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Bambang added that the government could even go as far as eliminating remissions to graft convicts in the future seeing how corruption could be considered as extraordinary crime. '€œThe government has the rights to postpone and even eliminate the awarding of remissions to convicts with specific type of crimes,'€ he said.

According to Bambang, corruption is considered as extraordinary crime as it had inflicted losses on the state. '€œDon'€™t you think that the impact from corruption is far greater than the rights to receive remissions which the corruptors should not have received in the first place?'€ he said.

On the same note, KPK spokesperson Johan Budi questioned the effectiveness of the new regulation in tightening the noose around the corruptors'€™ necks.

'€œIf the new government regulation is considered superior to the old regulation, then how come there are still lots of graft convicts who received remissions?'€ he said on Sunday.

Likewise, Emerson Yuntho of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) also criticized the new regulation.

'€œIt'€™s a shame that the government still grants remissions to corruptors. The new regulation is just there to boost the image (of the government),'€ he told the Post on Sunday. '€œThey'€™re just pretending to be battling corruption while actually they'€™re compromising and even supporting corruptors.'€