Mahfud Md Urges DPR to Prioritize Asset Forfeiture Bill

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud Md said the government would again propose a draft bill on the assets forfeiture to be included in the 2022 Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

Mahfud made the statement following President Joko Widodo or Jokowi’s speech during the commemoration event of World Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, that asset recovery and increase in non-tax state revenues should be prioritized to save and recover state finances and mitigate corruption from an early age.

The government thus keeps pushing for the enactment of the bill. However, the House of Representatives (DPR) had passed the 2022 prolegnas in which did not include the bill two days before the president's speech.

“The DPR has not yet listed the bill to the Prolegnas. So, two days later, the president proposed it. We ask for the DPR understanding to consider it as an important bill in the context of eradicating corruption,” Mahfud said in his statement, Tuesday, December 14.

Mahfud is optimistic that this bill will be passed next year as it is directly urged by President Jokowi. According to him, the bill was almost passed long ago but was hampered by one point related to the management of the confiscated assets.

Mahfud Md went on to say that the government had discussed options in the asset forfeiture bill. “The government has now come up with a unified opinion, so it's just left to the discussion if there are no other issues other than technical issues,” he said.

Read: Mahfud Md Asserts ITE Law Won't Be Revoked

DEWI NURITA