Additional Sentencing Option

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Former House speaker Setya Novanto discusses with his lawyers after being sentenced to 15 years in jail during a trial at Corruption Court in Jakarta on Tuesday. Setya is convicted of corruption in the e-ID cards megaproject in 2011-2013.

Former House of Representatives (DPR) speaker Setya Novanto has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The presiding Corruption Court judge also handed out additional punishment, revoking Novanto\'s right to be elected as a public official.

The judge found the former Golkar Party chairman guilty in the corruption case of the electronic ID card procurement that caused massive state losses. The judiciary panel also rejected Novanto’s request for justice collaborator status.

The judge\'s sentence was less than the 16 years prosecutors had demanded. Besides the principal corporal punishment and the obligation to pay US$7 million in restitution, the judiciary panel also imposed additional punishment in revoking Novanto’s right to political activity for five years.

As a politician, Novanto has been involved in several legal cases. However, he always managed to escape justice. In the hands of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), however, Novanto’s active involvement was uncovered and he was detained and punished.

No day passes in Indonesia without news on corruption. That is why we appreciate the KPK and the judges who revoked Novanto\'s political rights for five years.

The political rights of a number of corruption defendants were also revoked when they were found guilty of corruption. These progressive steps in combating corruption need be supported.

Corruption is an extraordinary crime that continues unabated in Indonesia because we are half-hearted in eradicating it. Now is the time for an urgent, radical step to hand down heavy verdicts to corruption convicts. Corporal punishment has proven ineffective as a deterrent. If their sentences are reduced by remission under the government domain, corporal punishment without the confiscating their wealth is not at all frightening.

What happened in Novanto’s case merely confirms Lord Acton\'s view that power tends to corrupt. A democracy that gives space to corrupt power holders destroys both the political and economic systems. The impact of corrupt politics and policies will only worsen the people’s suffering.

The revocation of political rights is an endeavor to close the opportunity for corruptors to hold public office in the government or legislature. The judge\'s verdict is in keeping with the intention of the General Elections Commission (KPU) to ban former corruption convicts from becoming legislative candidates.

We believe that if a political party has serious commitment to eradicating corruption in the country, it will support the KPU\'s move to ban former corruption convicts from running for legislative seats. This is a joint effort to reduce corruption and prevent it from expanding in this country.

Back to Novanto, we encourage the KPK to resolve the cases of all others involved in the case. There is no reason for the KPK not to follow up in these related cases if very strong and convincing evidence and witnesses do indeed exist. The revocation of political rights must always be an additional option to corporal punishment and paying restitution for every defendant who has been convicted of corruption.