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RI highlights S'pore extradition treaty at int'l meeting
The House of Representatives has drawn attention to the Indonesia-Singapore extradition treaty during the 2nd Southeast Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) meeting in Medan, North Sumatra, which started on Wednesday
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he House of Representatives has drawn attention to the Indonesia-Singapore extradition treaty during the 2nd Southeast Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) meeting in Medan, North Sumatra, which started on Wednesday.
An extradition treaty with Singapore is considered important for Indonesia because many corrupt individuals from Indonesia have fled to and concealed their stolen assets in the neighboring country.
House Speaker Marzuki Ali, who also holds the presidency of SEAPAC, said they would, through SEAPAC, push to again discuss the extradition treaty with Singapore at the meeting.
He said it was very difficult to catch corrupt individuals hiding in Singapore due to the absence of an umbrella law on extradition.
Marzuki said Singapore wanted any extradition agreement to be integrated with defense issues.
The extradition agreement has been stipulated in the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) agreed by the Indonesian and Singaporean governments.
Marzuki said however, that the House refused to ratify the agreement, saying it could inflict losses on Indonesia.
'We [the House] do not agree with the DCA agreed by the two governments. This can cause losses for Indonesia because Singapore wants to build a defense base in Sumatra,' Marzuki told The Jakarta Post after opening the 2nd SEAPAC meeting at the Hotel Aryaduta in Medan.
'Extradition and defense should have been detailed in two separate agreements,' he went on.
Sixty nine participants comprising legislative representatives from seven countries ' Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Timor Leste ' were present at the meeting, which was also attended by representatives from several international organizations.
Singapore is the only country that was absent in the two-day meeting. (ebf)
