Anti-graft Watchdog: Yasonna Uses COVID-19 to Free Corruptors
Translator
Ricky Mohammad Nugraha
Editor
Laila Afifa
Kamis, 2 April 2020 15:27 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has strongly rejected the plan to release inmates of corruption cases under the pretense of a national coronavirus mitigation plan.
This was first pitched by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly in a hearing with the law commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday as a means to overcome the overcapacity issue looming over nationwide prisons.
“This discourse is being offered as a means to use the current situation and relating it to the coronavirus outbreak to revise the government’s regulation that would see the early release of corruption suspects,” said ICW researcher Donal Fariz on Thursday, April 2.
According to Donal, the plan to revise Government Regulation No.99/2012 on regulations and rights of penitentiary inmates has always been pushed for a revision by minister Yasonna since 2015 and the efforts to revise the law constantly arise each year.
“This is a long and delayed agenda. The coronavirus outbreak is merely used as a justification,” said Donal who asserts that there is no urgency in releasing corruption inmates, which constitute to 1 percent of inmates, in the name of curbing the spread of the COVID-19.
“We urge President Joko Widodo to reject the suggestion to revise the law,” he said.
M ROSSENO AJI
