DPR to Discuss Corruption Court Law
Thursday, 21 December, 2006 | 15:37 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The House of Representatives (DPR) Chairman, Agung Laksono, has said the DPR will soon discuss the bill which will give new legal standing for the Corruption Criminal Acts Court.

“Soon after the 2007 session has opened,” said Agung after opening the Golkar Party's Assessment and Development Agency seminar at the Sultan Hotel yesterday (20/12).

Agung stated his concern over the Constitutional Court's decision that only gives a period of three years for the continued existence of this special court.

He said he was worried that the decision would weaken the ongoing spirit of law enforcement and corruption eradication.

“So what if the regulations are eliminated or changed all of a sudden?” he said.

In the decision read out on Tuesday (19/12), the Constitutional Court stated that Article 53 of the Corruption Eradication Law—the legal basis of the constitutional court's foundation—contradicts the 1945 Constitution.

Nonetheless, the Court gave a period of three years for the government and DPR to make a separate decree regulating this.

If there are no new regulations within the given period, the special court for corruption will be pronounced as no longer having any legal foundation and can be closed down.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, a senior legal practitioner, said he regarded the Court's decision as ambiguous and a fatal mistake.

The three year period, according to him, would instead create a new legal conflict because during that time, the existence of a legal institution that does not conform with the constitution could be ignored.

Therefore, Adnan said he was of the opinion that a substitute government regulation must be made quickly as an emergency to fill the law vacuum.

“It's not right to ignore it for three years. Where's the legal logic?” he said.

Mulati, Governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) said he agreed with the Court for deciding to annul Article 53, but he was disappointed with the three year deadline.

“That means keeping something unconstitutional,” he said after holding a meeting with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) yesterday.

According to this criminal legal expert, the Constitutional Court's decision has lost its philosophical basis and contradicts the constitution once again.

To settle the problem, he said, the government must make a substitute government regulation to overcome the long process of composing a law at the parliament.

ERWIN DARIYANTO | SANDY INDRA PRATAMA | IMRON ROSYID