ICW Criticizes Jokowi's Call to Prevent Corruption

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) criticized President Jokowi's recent speech that called for the prevention against acts of corruption in front of a room filled with regional heads at Sentul, Bogor, on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. The antigraft watchdog asserted that preventive measures are not the main task of law enforcers. 

"It is not the task of law enforcers if the president talks about prevention. Law enforcers will always crackdown on any form of crime that happens," said ICW coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo on Thursday, November 14, 2019.

As of preventing corruption, Adnan insisted that prevention measures must be handed to the government's own internal supervisory body by establishing a system dedicated for such purpose. Adnan said that the government has the wrong understanding of the meaning of "prevention" in the context of corruption. 

Prevention does not involve notifying suspects of corruption crime to refrain from committing corruption. "That would be deliberately leaking information to people that have already conspired to do the crime, which they will eventually do," Adnan said. 

"In this event, I would like to remind people that if there are legal issues that are able to be detected early, use preventive measures, remind them first. Don't wait until it happened and then...," said President Jokowi without finishing his sentence in Bogor on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. 

EGI ADYATAMA