Special Convicts
Setya Novanto, who was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in the e-ID corruption case, was transferred on Friday (14/6/2019) from Bandung’s Sukamiskin penitentiary to Bogor’s Gunung Sindur prison in West Java. Apparently the prison transfer was made after Setya Novanto was seen strolling through a shopping center.
The photo circulating on social media shows Setya in a mask and a hat. In addition to the 15-year sentence, Setya’s sentencing in April 2018 also ordered him to pay Rp 500 million in fines and pay the state Rp 66 billion in restitution, and revoked his right to political participation for a period of five years after his prison term.
Public memory clearly recalls a similar event from almost 10 years ago. Gayus Tambunan, who was convicted and sentenced to prison for corruption, was spotted in 2010 watching a tennis match in Bali. He was sentenced to 30 years for fattening his accounts through tax evasion. Formerly a civil servant of the IIIA group at the Directorate General of Taxation, he owned assets worth billions of rupiah.
This was not an isolated incident. It came to light that Gayus had also traveled abroad on an earlier occasion. The public was upset by the incident. While other convicts were confined to prison without adequate facilities, prison officers accorded special treatment to other inmates.
Legal trilemma
The mandate for state administrators, as stipulated in the 1945 Constitution, is a state based on the rule of law and not on power. In fulfilling its mandate, it turns out that the state has not treated all Indonesian people equitably. In the field of law, for example, how an official involved in crimes against the Indonesian people is treated depends on the amount of money they have. In politics, wealthy politicians are more likely to hold office than those with little wealth.
The law does not have a dilemma, but is instead trapped in a trilemma: A dilemma presents two difficult choices, whereas a trilemma presents three difficult choices. A dilemma poses a "buah simalakama” (between a rock and a hard place), while a trilemma poses a "vicious cycle".
If the dilemma between law and power can be resolved (by means of the primacy of law), the trilemma among law, power and interests cannot be resolved merely by emphasizing the law. The fact is that individual and group interests can often resort to both law and power.
Rousseau’s social contract theory defines law as the main tool that regulates the traffic of people\'s interests. Law subjugates the most essential human desire, that is, “the will to power”. It is the law that should use power in the public interest, and not the other way around: power using the law as a medium to fulfill temporary interests.
Vicious cycle
In Indonesia, the vicious cycle occurs in law enforcement due to the following facts.
First, democratization has progressed significantly in Indonesia, but its progress in law enforcement has not been very encouraging. Law enforcement officials are still tempted by money, so convicts are always seeking loopholes; never mind that a number of parties support this crime. Pragmatism is understood to be a way of life, and luxury as a lifestyle.
Third, the bureaucracy that was expected to perform and function effectively has instead abused power. The authority that has been bestowed on a person because of their achievements, years of service and opportunities is used not as a tool to improve the quality of the nation. Instead, it even becomes an opportunity to do something that has never been done before in his private and social circles.
Fourth, state officials have not been successful in resolving the law enforcement issues within themselves. This is because repeat cases continue to occur. The common model is that the convicts have a lot of money and bribe prison officials to allow them to venture out of prison to seek pleasure and fun.
Aside from Setya Novanto and Gayus, to mention a few prominent cases, corruption convict Tubagus Chaeri Wardana was found to be renting a starred hotel room in Bandung in December 2018. The convict was believed to have escaped many times before he was caught.
Playing with the law
These facts show that no understanding exists among officials that their duty to the state takes precedence over all else. They think about what they can take, dredge or drain, rather than how to complete that tasks that they have been appointed. The law is used as a game piece for the individual and group interests. The practice of law enforcement is mere wordplay.
The prison officials said that the hospital doctor examined Setya and then released him.
On further investigation, this was evident in the confessions of the prison officials who accorded Setya Novanto "permission to seek medical treatment". According to the chronology, at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, 14 June 2019, Setya asked to be allowed to go to a hospital. The prison officials said that the hospital doctor examined Setya and then released him.
While the prison officers remained waiting on the eighth floor of the hospital, Setya went to the cashier on the first floor. The officials then descended to the cashier on the first floor, but only discovered Setya there at 5:45 p.m. This confession illustrates that the “permission to seek medical treatment” is seen as an opportunity to venture outside the prison, and that the escort of prison officers is merely a formality.
This is very different from the treatment of an ordinary citizen who was suspected of violating the law in a deforestation case. Hermanto bin Nusirwan, 43, a resident of Tebat Monok village in Kepahiang regency, Bengkulu, was sentenced on Friday (14/6/2019) to one year of imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rp 1.5 billion in lieu of an additional six months in prison.
It was found that Hermanto had built a stall next to a police post and in doing so, he had damaged a warning sign that had long been buried in the ground. A dissenting opinion declared that Hermanto was not proven guilty of felling trees or of deforestation as the prosecutor had charged.
The case above is a mosaic of recent developments in law enforcement in the republic. We arrive at a dead end when state officials still view cases according to "heavy" and "light" crimes, who is involved, and the benefits that might be obtained.
Saifur Rohman, Lecturer in Philosophy at Jakarta State University