TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Prabowo urged to walk the talk on asset forfeiture bill
Having control over most of the House of Representatives should be enough for President Prabowo Subianto to push for deliberations of the long-awaited asset forfeiture bill, which is expected to be used to help the country in fighting against corruption.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Unsmiling: A rallygoer holds up a poster that reads “Death to the corruptors, let the people judge!“ during the Labor Day rally on Thursday at the National Monument (Monas) complex in Jakarta. (Antara/Fauzan)
A
nti-corruption activists are calling on President Prabowo Subianto to follow through on his public declaration supporting the long-awaited asset forfeiture bill, a stalled legislation that is expected to reinvigorate the country’s flailing fight against graft.
Prabowo reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to eradicate corruption during the commemoration of International Workers’ Day, or May Day, at the National Monument (Monas) complex in Central Jakarta on May 1.
“In the context of eradicating corruption, I support a law on asset forfeiture,” the President said in a fiery 30-minute speech in front of the workers and representatives of labor groups.
He then aimed at corruptors, whom he declared should not have it easy: “They have stolen, but are unwilling [to return their ill-gotten assets]. It’s better that I just confiscate them.”
Prabowo’s statement on corruption eradication was made in response to six demands from the labor groups during the May Day rally, which included a call for improved corruption eradication efforts through the passage of the asset forfeiture bill, which has stalled at the House of Representatives for over a decade.
A glimpse of hope for the bill emerged in May 2023, when then-president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo sent a draft of the bill as well as a presidential letter to the legislature, green-lighting its deliberation. But no progress was made until the end of his presidency in October 2024.
Read also: KPK seeks to impoverish corruption convicts through assets bill
