Headline: Indonesia‘s High Court Clarifies President Prabowo‘s Stance on Corruption Punishments
Article:
The Supreme Court (MA) of Indonesia has weighed in on President Prabowo Subianto’s recent remarks regarding the punishment of corrupt officials, asserting that his statement was not an intervention from the executive into the judiciary. The clarification came during a press conference at the MA, attended by Yanto, the MA spokesperson, along with other top court officials.
Addressing a question about President Prabowo’s statement that corruptors with clear-cut cases should face harsher penalties, Yanto assured that the President’s words did not constitute an intervention into the judicial process. "President Prabowo was not interfering, he was merely expressing his stance," Yanto clarified.
President Prabowo’s statement, made during a planning meeting at Bappenas on December 30, 2024, had sparked conversations about the separation of powers. He had suggested that corrupt officials with clear cases and significant malfeasance should face harsher penalties, seemingly going as far as suggesting a 50-year prison sentence.
However, Yanto explained that the Indonesian legal system outlines the maximum punishment for corruption as the death penalty, as per the Law No. 31/1999 on Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption, as amended by Law No. 20/2001. Nevertheless, no corruptor in Indonesia has ever been sentenced to death.
Yanto further elucidated that the death penalty can only be applied under specific circumstances, such as corruption during a natural disaster, financial crisis, or wartime. The MA representative emphasized that the President’s statement did not interfere with the judiciary’s independent role in meting out punishment.
Prabowo’s initial statement came shortly after the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Harvey Moeis to 6.5 years in prison for corruption in the PT Timah mining case.
