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View all search resultsRI House pushes for extradition treaty with Singapore
The House of Representatives brought up the issue of an extradition treaty with Singapore at the second general assembly of Southeast Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) in Medan on Wednesday
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T
he House of Representatives brought up the issue of an extradition treaty with Singapore at the second general assembly of Southeast Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) in Medan on Wednesday.
House Speaker Marzuki Ali said that an extradition treaty was very important for Indonesia because there were many corruption suspects who fled to Singapore and stashed their ill-gotten wealth there.
'We will push the subject of an extradition treaty with Singapore at the general assembly. This is an important matter because we cannot extradite corruption suspects from Singapore because there is no legal umbrella,' he said.
'Singapore wants the extradition treaty to be tied with the defense cooperation agreement (DCA) signed by both governments. The House rejects the agreement because it is not favorable to Indonesia.'
Marzuki, who is also SEAPAC president, said that the House had rejected the DCA because Singapore wished to build a defense base in Sumatra. 'The House views the clause as infiltrating the state's authority. The agreement must be changed or separated because extradition and defense are two separate entities,' he told The Jakarta Post after opening the general assembly.
There were 69 participants from countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand as well as a number of international organizations.
Singapore is the only member country absent from the general assembly.
Marzuki said Singapore was absent because there were principles in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) that had yet to be implemented by Singapore, especially on money laundering and extradition of corruption suspects.
'However, I had met the Singapore parliament speaker at the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Brunei Darussalam in September,' said Marzuki, referring to Halimah Yacob.
'She promised to bring up the issue with the Singaporean government.'
Meanwhile, chairman of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Indonesia, Pramono Anung, said SEAPAC would push forward Singapore to implement the UNCAC principles.
'Singapore has yet to implement regulations on money laundering and asset recovery making it difficult for other ASEAN countries if there are graft suspects who flee to or hide their assets in Singapore,' said Pramono, who is also the House deputy speaker.
