President Should Announce New Attorney General Soon

Jakarta (Antara) -- President Joko Widodo should announce a new attorney general as part of his working cabinet soon, a researcher said. "The Constitutional Court stipulates that an attorney general is part of the cabinet in upholding the law. So why has the president not announced a new attorney general along with the rest of his working cabinet?" a researcher of the Indonesian Court Monitoring Society (MAPPI) of the School of Law at the University of Indonesia, Dio Ashar Wicaksana, questioned here on Tuesday. Wicaksana noted that the new attorney general would have several formidable tasks to deal with, including erasing the public perception that there are corrupt officials in the Attorney General's Office. In the Report on Accountability and Performance of Government Institutions (LAKIP) of the State Administrative Reforms Ministry, the Attorney General's Office was named among agencies with low accountability, Wicaksana revealed. The researcher further added that last year, the Attorney General's Office imposed sanctions on 168 public prosecutors for violating the code of ethics, which indicated weak control over its internal affairs. "Keeping these reasons in mind, the new attorney general must be competent and independent. S/he must not be affiliated to any political party or corporation, must have high integrity and experience in leading a legal state agency," he stated. Among those rumored to be appointed as the new attorney general are the Chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) Muhammad Yusuf, former PPATK chief Yunus Husein, and the Commissioner of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Busyro Muqoddas. (*) Reported by Desca Lidya Natalia