Parole Indicates Government Lacks Will to Fight Corruption: ICW

Jakarta (Antara) - Granting parole and remission to those convicted of corruption indicates the government's lack of commitment to eradicating the crime, coordinator of the legal and judicial department of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Emerson Yuntho, said. "We are protesting against the government for granting parole and remission to the corrupt," he said, while leading a demonstration in front of the office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in Jakarta on Monday. Both, the ICW and the Coalition of Civil Society, had come together for this demonstration. Yuntho demanded transparency in the government with regard to its decisions to grant parole and remission to the convicts. He emphasized that Hartati Murdaya and Anggodo Wijoyo, who have been granted parole and remission, respectively, were not eligible for such relief. "He (Wijoyo) was sentenced for only 15 months, but has already been granted 29 months of remission. This is strange," he remarked. Yuntho explained that good behaviour and completing at least a third of the sentence are the criteria based on which convicts are eligible for remission. Wijoyo has yet to complete one third of his sentence. During the demonstration, members of the Coalition of Civil Society donned uniforms worn by those convicted by the Corruption Eradication Commission and also wore masks with Murdaya's and Wijoyo's faces on them. One demonstrator was arrested for sporting a mask of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "We told him to take off the mask because no symbol of the state should be insulted," the police said. (*) Written by Hafidz Mubarak