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udicial watchdog Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR) has called on President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s administration to annul its plan to issue an anti-criminalization regulation that would prevent law enforcement agencies from directly investigating irregularities in government policies.

ILR researcher Erwin Natosmal Oemar said the implementation of such a regulation could create uncertainty in the country'€™s law enforcement procedures, adding that it would make it harder to prosecute corrupt officials.

Erwin further said that the plan sent a message to the public that the government distrusted the National Police and the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) when handling criminal cases related to government programs.

'€œThrough the plan, the government actually acknowledges that widespread criminalization practices committed by the police and prosecutors offices indeed exist. The solution to the poor performance of the two institutions should not come in the form of government regulations but by increasing supervision and reforming the Criminal Law Procedures Code [KUHAP],'€ Erwin told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Through the new regulation the government has instructed law enforcement institutions to allow the internal departments of state institutions and state auditory agencies such as the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), as first responders, to examine irregularities, limiting law enforcement institutions'€™ abilities to independently launch their own investigation of suspicious government practices.

The first responders, if they conclude that criminal activities had taken place, can then decide whether to ask law enforcers to step in.

The plan also seeks to prohibit law enforcement institutions from briefing the media on the progress of their investigations until a case reaches prosecution stage.

'€œThe negative effect of the plan is that it puts government officials above the law and they may commit corruption in the name of government policy if they feel that they are being protected by the government,'€ Erwin added.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Indriyanto Seno Adji said the antigraft body could understand the government'€™s thinking behind the plan, and emphasized that the KPK'€™s work in eradicating corruption would not be hindered by the up-coming regulation.

But Indriyanto said that there should not be legal immunity for state officials who commit corruption through their policies.

'€œThe KPK will never get involved in matters related to administrative violations but for sure we will step in should we find that government officials have made policies as a result of kickbacks or bribery, so we won'€™t probe based on policies but on the people who drew them up in each specific case,'€ Indriyanto told the Post on Sunday.

Jokowi made the move because of his concerns about the effect that corruption eradication efforts had on existing development programs.

The government has repeatedly stated that the current slow absorption of the state budget by regional governments has been caused by state officials'€™ fears of being prosecuted as a result of their policies.
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