VIVAnews - The Alliance of Indonesian Journalists (AJI) rejects a recent step taken by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), who recently reported two members of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) for alleged defamation.
During the commemoration of World's Anticorruption Day on Dec 9, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji revealed that AGO had saved Rp 8 trillion and US$18 million from various corruption cases handled in the past four years, during the 2004-2008 period.
ICW visited the AGO and questioned this amount. It then released data stating that the amount of state money saved by the AGO under the leadership of Attorney General Supandji only amounted to Rp 382.67 billion.
ICW also noted that there are indications that the losses suffered by the state from corruption cases handled by the AGO in the 2004-2008 period amounted to Rp. 13.16 trillion, which differs from the AGO’s claim.
In addition, ICW also revealed BPK’s data in the first semester of 2008, which shows that there was Rp 7,597,289,491,528.88 of account receivable for substitute money in the Balance Sheet as of 31 December 2007 that cannot be fully accounted for. The money originated from 3,143 corruption cases that have been completed and 2,878 cases that have been entered into court.
Jasman Panjaitan, head of AGO’s Information and Law Center, said that the AGO feels aggrieved by this release. "ICW issued statements that implied as the data we released was not true, that we deluded the public," said Panjaitan in a conversation with VIVAnews, Wednesday, Jan. 7. "That's defamation," he said.
As such, the AGO decided to report ICW to the Indonesian Police Headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 7. The AGO refused to accept ICW’s statements which it views as being defamatory. In particular, they reported Yuntho and ICW’s researcher Illian Deta to the police for alleged defamation and slander against AGO.
The evidence included in the report is a news article in the 5 January edition of Rakyat Merdeka daily news paper about the amount of money recovered from corruption cases by the AGO. Rakyat Merdeka titled the news article “Corrupting Corruption Money” (“Uang Korupsi kok Malah Dikorupsi”).
In response, ICW stated that its calculation was based on an audit done by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). ICW calculated that only Rp 382.67 billion has been paid into the state treasury, therefore the rest of the money that the AGO claimed to have recovered from the corruption cases have not actually been paid into the state treasury.
“Indeed according to the data there is a very significant discrepancy. And in fact we have asked the AGO about it,” said Emerson Yuntho, Head of ICW’s Law and Judicial Supervision Department, Wednesday, Jan. 7.
Because the statements ICW made was based on BPK’s data, ICW had no qualms about being reported to the police by the AGO. “We don’t have the right to prevent. Please go ahead. One thing is certain, we never defamed the AGO,” said Yuntho.
Yuntho also regrets a statement that Panjaitan made in a print media. Panjaitan stated that ICW never came to the AGO’s office to clarified the issue. “We didn’t meet with Panjaitan, but we did go to the AGO. We met directly with the Special Crimes Solicitor General (Marwan Effendy),” said Yuntho.
Meanwhile the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has also taken a stance with regard to the issue. It regrets the action that the AGO has taken in reporting the two ICW activists.
According to AJI’s President, Nezar Patria, the AGO’s report is a form of pressure on the freedom and the role of the public in performing societal control.
The police, said Patria, should no longer use the articles in question, i.e. regarding defamation and slander. “Especially for institutions who report allegations of criminal corruption,” said Patria to VIVAnews, Thursday, Jan. 8.
The Alliance urged that in the future elements of marring reputation should be removed from the Draft Bill of the Penal Code.
According to Patria, the criminal action being taken against the two anti-corruption activists would in fact have the effect of hampering the efforts in eradicating corruption. Their criticisms constitute public effort of supervision on governmental officials.
The AGO, added Patria, should have responded by giving clarification rather than taking a criminal action. "A criminal punishment will not have the effect of improving the image of the attorney general," said Patria
* VIVAnews journalists Elin Yunita Kristanti, Arry Anggadha, Ita Lismawati F. Malau, Fadila Fikriani Armadita and Yudho Rahardjo contributed to this article.
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