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Jokowi told to cleanse AGO, Law and Human Rights Ministry of politics
KompasIndonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has demanded President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo to remove politics from the Attorney Generalâs Office (AGO) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry and prevent the two institutions from being filled by representatives of any political parties
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Kompas
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has demanded President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to remove politics from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry and prevent the two institutions from being filled by representatives of any political parties.
ICW's coordinator for corruption and politics division, Donal Fariz, said on Saturday that the general public could not accept that law enforcement institutions like the AGO and the ministry, which frequently deal with political parties, were led by politicians.
If the AGO was led by a politician, according to Donal, people would always link any policy it made with the interests of the leader's political party, or the interests of the ruling coalition.
In the upcoming simultaneous regional elections, he said, the prosecutor's office may need to arrest certain figures who happen to be opposition leaders.
'In such a situation, people will always see the AGO as a less credible institution, while the President will always be drawn into such a case,' said Donal during a gathering to discuss President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's reshuffle plan in Jakarta.
In connection with the Law and Human Rights Ministry, there are many policies that could be considered as political decisions, Donal added.
He criticized Law and Human Rights Minister Yasona Hamonganan Laoly's policy of revising a previous minister's policy that loosened the requirements for convicts and detainees to get remissions and probation.
'Because of Yasona's ministerial decree on remissions and probation, two convicts who served only one-third of their respective sentences, have been allowed to become candidates for regional leader positions,' said Donal, adding that one was a mayoral candidate in Manado, North Sumatra and the other a regent candidate in Boven Digoel, Papua.
Yasona was also criticized for his decisions on the internal conflicts in the United Development Party (PPP) and the Golkar Party that were in favor of politicians who supported the ruling coalition. The Constitutional Court just recently issued a ruling that was in favor of politicians who supported the opposition coalition. (bbn)
