Traces Of Jokowi's Instructions: President Who Insists On Official Policy Cannot Be Convicted

Jokowi, who served as President of Indonesia from the 2014-2019 era. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - No one doubts the enforcement of corruption in the first period of the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration. Anyone whose policies harm the state or are proven to have stolen will certainly be chased by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Recently, Jokowi considers that official policies should not be punished. This condition is because many officials are afraid to make new policies. Fear of being wrong and fear of being criminalized. As a result, Jokowi issued a policy instruction that cannot be punished, unless proven to steal state money.

Corruption enforcement in Indonesia was quite good in the reform era. The presence of the KPK is considered at the forefront of eradicating corruption in Indonesia. This condition makes state officials from the level of regents/mayors to ministers subject to corruption.

The crime occurred because official policies were considered detrimental to the state. The rest were because officials were proven to have accepted bribes and stole state money to enrich themselves. Jokowi also agreed. He gave great appreciation in terms of eradicating corruption in the first period 2014-2019 of his government.

Problems arise. Officials who are convicted of corruption due to policies have an impact everywhere. Jokowi saw that the absorption of the budget in 2015 was not optimal. In the middle of the year alone, the budget absorption was only 20 percent.

Investigate government officials at the regional head level are afraid to make policies. They are afraid of criminalization. As a result, Jokowi responded by issuing policy instructions or discretion of regional heads that cannot be punished by law enforcement officials on August 24, 2015.

This means that if the official's policy that in the future brings losses cannot be punished. Jokowi views that the policy out is of course in good faith. His intention is to increase people's lives.

Jokowi also thinks that policy matters are the realm of state administrative law, not criminal law. It is different when the official has bad intentions and is proven to steal. Jokowi allowed it to enter the criminal realm.

"I ask all law enforcement officials not to criminalize policies. Please punish them as hard as possible if they are proven to steal or accept bribes," said Jokowi at the Bogor Palace as quoted by the Republican page, August 24, 2015.

The instructions given by Jokowi are not without basis. Jokowi considers his instructions to be the mandate of Law (UU) Number 30 of 2014 concerning Government Administration. The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) era Law emphasized that officials have legal protection in making decisions.

Jusuf Kalla (JK) also sees Jokowi's desire to be reasonable. The Vice President views that the running of the government has been disrupted because officials do not dare to make policies. If official policies can continue to be punished, surely there will be no progress for the nation and state.

It is different between the government and what is seen by the KPK. They consider the administrative error that causes state losses to be dragged into the criminal realm. Moreover, in the formulation of the policy, it was found that the Minister of Rea (bad intention of perpetrators) from the start.

The KPK considers that the policy is indeed the domain of entry to state administrative law. However, that does not mean that the policy cannot be brought to the criminal realm. As long as malicious intentions are found, for example, benefiting certain groups, they can be brought to justice.

Criticism from all Indonesian people has also emerged. Jokowi's desire is considered to have given immunity to officials. Even that further reduces the meaning of corruption. Corruption should not only be considered to steal state money.

Corruption can also be interpreted because officials issue policies that harm the people. Everything that harms the people should be seen as a crime. The criticism that came did not make Jokowi resign. He continued with his stance that policies could not be punished.

"That policies, discretion, cannot be punished. Don't be punished. Government administrative actions are the same. Please differentiate. Which ones are intentionful, which ones are binding, which ones are administrative actions. I think the rules in the BPK are clear. Which ones are returns, which ones are not."

"The loss stated by the BPK is still given a 60-day opportunity. This must also be given a note. It is not exposed to the media excessively before we carry out prosecution. Yes, if it is wrong. If I'm not mistaken?" said Jokowi as quoted on pagennews.com, July 19, 2016.

Jokowi did insist that officials could not be convicted when he became President of Indonesia. However, after his term of office expired, he then did not comment much when many officials in his era were charged with corruption during the Prabowo Subianto administration.

Take, for example, the former Minister of Trade from the 2015-2016 era, Tom Lembong and former President Director of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) from the 2017 '2024 era, Ira Puspadewi. Both were punished because of policies that were deemed detrimental to the state. However, both of them were not proven to have bad intentions and stole state money.