Chief Justice of The Court, Moh. Mahfud MD, at a National Seminar on âBribery and Blackmailing in the moral and law enforcement perspectiveâ held in Panghegar Hotel, Bandung, Saturday (26/2).
Bandung, Pikiran Rakyat (page 1, 27/2/11)
People became the potential actor to uncover the bribery and blackmailing cases done by political officers. Several cases which recently became the main issues could be investigated by the reports from the people.
That was said by the Chief of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Busyro Muqoddas in a national seminar on “Bribery and Blackmailing in the moral and law enforcement perspectives.” Held in Panghegar Hotel, Jalan Merdeka, Bandung, Saturday (26/2).
The seminar was initiated by the Family Union of Alumni from Indonesian Islamic University (IKA Unisi) for West Java region in cooperation with Pikiran Rakyat Daily Newspaper.
According to Busyro, people with high awareness on law might participate in enforcing the law on corruption criminal cases committed by public officers.
“Case of Gayus who bribed the officers in the detention center to travel to Bali and Singapore for example, it was disclosed not by law enforcers but by the people in this case a reporter,” he explained.
He said that of all bribery cases coming to the Comission, mostly were on the procurement of goods and services. Those projects were usually in contact with the people directly such as entrepreneurs.
The bribery practices or blackmailing in the procurement of goods and services projects, he said, had caused some loss for the state and the people. The Government Budget itself, 70 percent of it was from the people’s tax payment.
“Therefore, the people have an interest and can be involved in disclosing bribery and blackmailing cases.” He said.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (The Court) Mahfud MD said that most of the corruption cases were about the stealing of state’s finance. According to him, the modus might vary, for example the most common one was to forge receipt or to mark up the price.
Yet, there were also public officers who stole the state’s money by merely signing the project approval letter. “However, from the value of the project, he receives a give back (gratification) from the businessmen for approving the project. For example, of 10 billion project value, the officer could get 3 billion, if the project were successful,” he said.
Thus, he said, whether the bribery from the people with vested interest on a certain project or the blackmailing committed by public officers still become common enemies. Even though law reformation had begun, law enforcement on corruption cases still could not be perfectly fixed.
Protecting Reporter
According to the Chief of Institution for Witness and Victim Protection (LPSK), Abdul Haris Semendawai, people were the most accounted to be able to disclose a corruption case. However, the protection system for reporter who became a witness had to be strengthened.
“The role of witness and victims to report on the existence of bribery and blackmailing practices is the key to reveal the crime,” he said.
He revealed that if the people who directly witnessed did not report, the incident would never be revealed; also the actors could not be sued for responsibility.
Even though so, he admitted that the reporter often became a target of revenge. Various actions would be taken to silent the reporter, for example by dismissal from work, character assassination, even physical abuse until murder.
Hence, he said, every reporter had better immediately seek for protection to LPSK. The Reporter would even get a physical protection.
On that event, there was also an inauguration of Management Board of IKA Unisi for West Java region for 2011-2015 periods. The inauguration was conducted by Mahfud MD. (A-132/A-160/YDJ)
Monday, February 28, 2011 | 17:07 WIB 301