The Asset Confiscation Law And BLBI Become Prabowo-Gibran's PR

Legal observer Dr. (Cand.) Hardjuno Wiwoho. (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - The elected President and Vice President (Vice President), Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka must continue the corruption eradication agenda that has been launched by the previous government as a priority program.

In addition to the free lunch program, two major homeworks (PR) included in the 100-day government program are the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill into a law and the completion of a mega scandal in the corruption of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI). Therefore, the active role of the community is very important to oversee the discussion of the substance of the Asset Confiscation Bill.

This is important so that certain groups do not take advantage of the issue of the Asset Confiscation Bill as a political gimmick.

"I think the urgency and enthusiasm for the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill is to be able to eradicate corruption," said legal observer Dr. (Cand.) Hardjuno Wiwoho in Jakarta, Friday, April 26.

Previously, President Joko Widodo again mentioned the importance of confiscation of state assets and refunds. However, since the Presidential Letter or Presidential Decree on the Asset Confiscation Bill was handed over by the Government to the DPR in May 2023, until now the regulation has not been ratified.

"I think, in the early year of this new government, let all the nation's children, together oversee how seriously they support the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill. Because from there it becomes a measuring tool for the seriousness of eradicating corruption," said the student of the Postgraduate School Legal Study and Development Program, Airlangga University, Surabaya.

However, Hardjuno admitted that the ratification of this bill was not easy. You see, the tug of war over the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill is very strong. Moreover, many political hands play.

"All components of the nation and all Indonesian people should oversee the discussion of this bill," he said.

This is because this bill is a solution to save the corrupted state money. Furthermore, Hardjuno sees that the challenges faced by the upcoming Prabowo-Gibran government are very large, especially from the economic sector.

This situation makes it difficult for this new government to realize campaign promises. One example, the increasingly heated geopolitical conditions that put pressure on the state budget.

The worsening of global economic conditions has given negative sentiment to the Indonesian economy.

"Our fiscal space is very limited," he explained.

Meanwhile, the new government must finance the free lunch program which became the political sale of Prabowo-Gibran during the presidential election campaign last time.

It is estimated that this free lunch budget will cost IDR 450 trillion per year. The need for jumbo funds is expected to disrupt the state budget, namely the absorption of other budgets from social protection programs.

"If the free lunch and milk budget is taken from social programs such as fuel and electricity subsidies, it is estimated that the poverty rate will increase," he said.

Therefore, Hardjuno encourages the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill into law as soon as possible. This law will later become the legal umbrella for seizing assets obtained from proceeds of crime and other assets that should be allegedly used or have been used as a means (instrumentalities) to commit crimes.

This law will later be useful for seizing the assets of state officials from unreasonable income, and cannot be proven legally.

Moreover, the confiscation of assets through this bill does not require evidence of guilt from criminals that are difficult to prove in court hearings, while real state losses have occurred.

This asset Confiscation Law is a solution to save corrupted state money. And from the results of this asset confiscation, it can be used to fund government programs, including free lunch programs," he explained.

He said the Asset Confiscation Law would soon become a powerful tool to impoverish corruptors. As long as corruptors are not severely punished, they are still confident in corruption. Therefore, he hopes that in the early days of this new government, the Asset Confiscation Bill has been passed by the DPR.

"I said, this is the right moment. If we don't urge the government and the DPR immediately, we can lose momentum, let alone be busy with the political agenda of this new government," he added.

In addition to the ratification of the Asset Confiscation Bill, the second homework for the Prabowo-Gibran government is the completion of the Mega Scandal BLBI. BLBIgate is an extraordinary cryme event which is a crime when the country is experiencing a transition from the new order government to the reform era.

According to him, BLBI is still a Pandora's box which has not yet been clearly revealed. For this reason, the government must be transparent and accountable in handling and restoring state rights to a number of funds that have been successfully returned and confiscated assets.

"We hope that this new government will work optimally to pursue obligors and debtors to settle their debts to the state. The government must be more assertive, not indiscriminately. If this BLBI evader asset is confiscated, I think it can strengthen our state budget. So that any type of program can be executed," he concluded.