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Normalizing corruption
At the grass roots, corruption literacy remains a challenge, with people perceiving gratuities and bribery as routine perks.
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Former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum attends a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Aug. 11, 2014. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
F
or the umpteenth time the Supreme Court has reduced a prison sentence for a corruption convict and for reasons that many of us find difficult to understand, let alone accept. The last bastion of the country’s justice system recently slashed the prison term of former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum to eight years from the previous 14 years.
Anas, who was found guilty in February 2014 of accepting Rp 20 billion among other gratuities in relation to the construction of the Hambalang Sports Complex in Bogor, West Java, can now hope to regain his freedom soon, as the government may release him on parole after he has served at least two thirds of his prison term. Besides, the government is always generous in giving remission, including to graft convicts.
The Supreme Court ruling overturned its previous decision that increased the jail sentence for Anas to 14 years in June 2015 upon an appeal filed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The justices hearing the case review demanded by Anas said the 2015 decision was erroneous because it was based on bad evidence and incorrect legal considerations.
Whatever arguments justify the prison term reduction for Anas, the Supreme Court decision only shows inconsistency in the country’s fight against corruption. In fact, before Anas, 22 graft convicts had their jail sentences reduced by the Supreme Court in the past year alone.
On the one hand the KPK is leading the charge in the crackdown on corrupt people in the public and private sectors, but on the other hand the court has many times shown leniency.
Corruption watchdogs have understandably raised their concerns about the overarching consequences of the Anas ruling. Such decisions ignore a sense of justice for people who have been impacted, directly or indirectly, by acts of corruption, they cancel out the hard work of law enforcers who have uncovered corruption cases and brought the perpetrators to justice and they defang the deterrence effect of law enforcement against fraudsters.
Worse, the public will lose faith in the rule of law. To some extent the loss of confidence has already been felt, as seen in the public perception that an arrest of a graft suspect simply indicates bad luck, rather than rigid enforcement of the law.
Efforts to uphold good governance and clean government have never ceased. Many government and state institutions have, for example, banned officials from accepting Idul Fitri parcels, but the state bureaucracy remains a hotbed of corruption. The bribery case allegedly implicating prosecutor Pinangki Malasari has revealed another tip of the iceberg of corruption plaguing the bureaucracy.
At the grass roots, corruption literacy remains a challenge, with people perceiving gratuities and bribery as routine perks. In election season, many do not say no to cash or gifts offered by electoral candidates, although they may not vote for the politicians on polling day.
The court decision in favor of Anas only mirrors this nation’s short memory. The much-vaunted pledge to eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism more than 20 years ago seems now to be merely part of history.
