Mahfud MD: See The Corruptors Who Inhabit Prisons Now, Coming From All Lines

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, reminded all elements of the nation to raise collective awareness to stay away from corruption practices.

Where, he said, in the post-reform era, corruption was widespread and universities became one of its main defendants. Because the corruptors are generally college graduates.

"Therefore, rectors in universities should pay attention to this", Mahfud said while giving a speech at the inauguration of Dr. Makmun Murad as Rector of Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta (UMJ), Tuesday, May 25.

In 2017, Mahfud claimed to have said that reform-era corruption is more widespread than the New Order era. Although the New Order era was massive corruption but concentrated and regulated through a network of corporatism by the Suharto government.

"Corruption used to be monopolized at the top of the executive and carried out after the state budget was set. This was indisputable, the evidence was that the New Order was reformed and Suharto's government was officially called the KKN government. The mention is in Tap MPR, Constitution, campaign politicians, observers, dissertations, thesis, and so on", explained Mahfud.

But Mahfud admitted, after the reforms, corruption was even more widespread. In the name of perverted democracy, corruption is no longer committed at the top of the executive but has expanded horizontally to legislative, judicial, auditive, and vertical people from the center to the regions.

 

"Just look at the corruptors who inhabit prisons now, coming from all horizontal and vertical lines", said the professor of law of the Islamic University of Indonesia.

 

If corruption used to be done after the state budget was determined on the government's proposal, he continued, now before the state budget and APBD (Regional Budget) so there have been projected negotiations for the state budget and APBD.

 
The Minister of Defense of the Wahid era is suspected, many of whom went to prison because of the sale and purchase of state budgets and regulation. "I can point to the evidence of corruptors who are in prison only", he said.

Mahfud said The Government is not easy to crack down on because, in a democracy, it can no longer concentrate actions and policies beyond its authority. That is why Mahfud claimed to understand the term "criminal democracy" that Rizal Ramli once said.

"This situation needs moral awareness collectively because no institution can penetrate the barricades of democracy whose authority has been rationed by the constitution", he said.

Therefore, according to him, the key to completion is not enough just by the rules or positions. Because rules and positions are created through what is assumed to be a democratic imperative. 

"If the actors of democracy are morally dilapidated then the products of the law and its implementation will also be dilapidated. The law is largely determined by the morals of the actors. That's our job going forward", he said.

 

Mahfud added that democracy remains the best. But it needs to be reorganized with the moral nobility of its actors so that what grows is a substantial democracy, not a criminal democracy.
 

"There is evidence that in a certain sense the law is a political product, if political morality is good then the law and its enforcement will be good. But if political morality is bad then the law and its enforcement will also be ugly", Mahfud said.