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Jakarta Post

Editorial: Finally: AG Prasetyo

The latest surprise this week is the long-awaited choice of the attorney general

The Jakarta Post
Fri, November 21, 2014

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Editorial: Finally: AG Prasetyo

T

he latest surprise this week is the long-awaited choice of the attorney general. On Thursday afternoon it was confirmed that a politician from the NasDem Party, HM Prasetyo, had been installed as the attorney general.

The chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Abraham Samad, said the appointment of a politician was '€œfar from appropriate'€. The leading NGO on graft monitoring, the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), was reported to be '€œin mourning'€.

The NasDems'€™ chief Surya Paloh must be very happy to have yet another of his party members entrusted at the helm of government, along with Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, the Environment and Forestry Minister and former Navy chief of staff Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo apparently selected the best available person for attorney general '€” a politician and a junior attorney general for general crimes from 2005 to 2006.

Though Prasetyo immediately resigned as a NasDem legislator, skepticism remains high on how he can avoid conflicts of interest. Those who were against an '€œinsider'€ cited the rotten judiciary, while others said outsiders would lack the experience and network needed to strengthen the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO). Prasetyo will be watched closely, as a former legislator of the coalition under Jokowi'€™s party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which includes the NasDems .

Let'€™s just give Prasetyo time to prove himself worthy of the controversial decision. Attorneys general with clean records have not necessarily made breakthroughs in overcoming challenges in the judiciary, especially at the AGO.

The long weeks leading to the attorney general'€™s appointment have reflected the grueling search for anyone with both the integrity, experience and courage, besides intellectual and managerial capacity, to head part of the judiciary notorious for the very obstacles to justice '€” for instance the AGO'€™s power to freeze an investigation.

The arrest and detention of the then chief of the Constitutional Court, Akil Mochtar, proved how even the highest seats of the judiciary had a price; and the AGO is still shedding recent stigma that corruptors could walk free from their halls while they landed in jail when cases were processed by the KPK. The conclusion of the lay citizen has therefore been that the courage of the AGO depends a lot on his boss, the President.

For instance, it is not easy to imagine that the new attorney general would bring out cases in the AGO'€™s closet, like that regarding AM Hendropriyono '€” the trusted former intelligence chief and close associate of PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekanoputri '€” who was implicated in the Talangsari shootings in Lampung when he served in the military in the 1980s.

But at least all the President'€™s men and women know they have the solid backing of their boss in wiping out underperforming underlings and those abusing their power.

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