Gus Dur: Discrimination Prevails In Effort to Combat Corruption

Jakarta, NU Online
Former President Abdurahman ’Gur Dur’ Wahid who is also the Chairman of the National Awakening Party’s (PKB) Advisory Board said there was no such a meaningful progress in the country’s effort to combat corruption, as discrimination in upholding the law on anti-corruption was something unavoidable.

"The existing legal mechanism could not prevail in Indonesia. If there is an action to take a legal suit against a certain suspect, it is often confined in descrimination," Gus Dur said on the occasion of a meeting with some legislators and Constitutional Court’s Chairman Jimly Ashidiqie in Jakarta, recently.

According to him, such discrimination in combating corruption was too conspicuous lately in the sense that the action to persecute corruptors are mostly taken against former ranking officials who were close to former President Megawati.

Gus Dur disclosed two names of former ranking officials  already dragged into jail such as Said Agil Siradj (former religious minister) and Widjanarko Puspoyo, former chairman of the national logistic agency, while other top officials on the list of alleged corruptors were let untouchable.

He further stressed that such discriminative enforcement of the law indicated that the law has been fuctioning as an instrument of tricks for those in power. The law is however subject to a practice of transaction.

The abusive condition of law-related cases often ran counter to the constitution. Many laws were then learned to be against the constitution, Gus Dur said.

However, the condition of the law like this was exactly the product of the House of Representative for which the members are cadres of the political parties. "This is the cause of the country’s prolonged crisis which is difficult to deal with," he said.

In the meantime, Chairman of the Constitutional Court Jimly Ashidiqie was too careful in giving his opinion when asked to comment on existing discrimination in combating corruption.

"Discrimination is possible to prevail on account of less number of legal apparatuses, while the number of cases is so big," Jimly said. (ant/mad)