KPK Prisoner Juliari Batubara Vaccinated, Government Judged With Favoritism

JAKARTA - Former Indonesian Ombudsman Commissioner Adrianus Meliala questioned the urgency of giving the COVID-19 vaccine to detainees from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), including former Social Minister Juliari Peter Batubara. Moreover, the priority vaccination stage has not yet been completed.

"It is not an exaggeration to ask the question of what is the urgency of prioritizing these detainees? Although it is not very relevant, the fact that the detainees are high-ranking officials or wealthy businessmen and have abused their positions can make the public more sensitive", said Adrianus in his written statement, Friday, February 26.

If the reason for giving this vaccine is so that KPK prisoners do not catch COVID-19, then tens of thousands of detainees from the police, prosecutors, and courts in thousands of locations throughout Indonesia must also receive the same vaccine. This is because they also have the same legal status as the corruption suspects detained at the KPK detention center.

Apart from that, he also assessed that it is actually far more important to vaccinate the 250 thousand prisoners in overcapacity prisons. The reason is, if someone is infected with COVID-19, the cluster of transmission can occur on a large scale.

Thus, the act of administering vaccines to KPK prisoners is considered to have made the impression that the government really pays more attention to high-class lawbreakers such as corruptors. Whereas people who obey the law, the general public are now patiently waiting for their turn to be vaccinated.

"The act of vaccinating KPK prisoners gives the impression that it is far more important to pay attention to the elite class lawbreakers rather than prioritizing tens of millions of law-abiding people, who are now patiently waiting for the vaccine queue", he said.