Yusril Emphasizes that the Death Penalty for Corruptors has been Regulated by Law, but There are Criteria

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra stated that the death penalty for corruptors was regulated in the Law (UU).

It is said that Indonesia has complete legal and institutional instruments, ranging from the death penalty threat in the Corruption Crime Act (Tipikor) and the existence of law enforcement officers ranging from the National Police, Prosecutor's Office, KPK, corruption courts in every province to the Supreme Court's corruption court.

"But in reality corruption continues. From ordinary people, the anti-corruption apparatus such as the police, prosecutors and judges are corrupt. Even the Minister of Religion is also corrupt," said Yusril as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 6.

Therefore, responding to the proposal of the Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to apply the death penalty to corruptors, Yusril believes that the issue of corruption is not merely related to the severity of the criminal threat or the existence of law enforcement officials.

According to him, what is lacking is religious ethics based on the principle of the One God or tauhid in the religion of Islam.

He also questioned why religious rituals in Indonesia were increasing, but morality had not grown.

"Is there anything wrong with religious education, preaching, and tabligh so far? Is it just a ritual that has not touched the depths of conscience so that it has not been able to distinguish between what is haq and what is bathil," he said.

He explained that the death penalty in the national criminal law system is the ultimum remedium, the most severe punishment that can be imposed by the court at the request of the public prosecutor (JPU).

In deciding a case, Yusril said the judge must first assess whether the indictment is proven to be legally and convincingly based on the facts revealed in the trial or not.

If it is believed to be proven, he continued, the judge will impose a sentence that is considered the most just and proportionate to the defendant's actions and their impact on victims, the nation, and the state.

It was emphasized that the judge's decision must be based on the phrase "For the sake of justice based on the One God" and the consideration of conscience so that the judge should not decide on the case on the basis of anger or hatred.

According to him, this is like what the Quran says, "Decide things fairly. Never let your hatred of a group cause you to be unfair to them. Be fair, because in fact being fair is closer to piety" (Al Maidah 8).

Yusril revealed that when he was Minister of Justice in 2001-2004, he took the initiative to make changes to Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Corruption Crimes (Tipikor), which later became Law Number 20 of 2001.

In the amendment, continued Yusril, a number of new provisions were added, including regarding gratification, bribes to state organizers, extortion by officials and still maintaining the threat of the death penalty for corruptors in certain circumstances.

He conveyed that certain conditions as referred to in Article 2 of the Tipikor Law include the state in a state of danger, national natural disasters, residivisms, as well as economic and monetary crises.

It is stated that the same principle is also adopted in the new National Criminal Code (KUHP).

Thus, Yusril said that although the prosecutor demanded the death penalty and the law justified it, the judge was still obliged to consider whether the demand was appropriate or not.

"It could be that after weighing all the circumstances, the judge will impose a life sentence," said Yusril.