Sofyan\'s case was a big one, involving a number of well-connected people. Prosecutors demanded a five-year imprisonment for him.
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The acquittal of former state electricity company PT PLN president director Sofyan Basir by the Jakarta Corruption Court should serve as a lesson for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Sofyan\'s case was a big one, involving a number of well-connected people. Prosecutors demanded a five-year imprisonment for him. However, the panel of judges presided over by Hariono ruled in his favor in a trial session on Monday, 4 November 2019. The judges found him not guilty.
The KPK has the right to contest the ruling, including by filing a cassation appeal, as KPK chair Agus Rahardjo has said. Furthermore, this was not the first acquittal for a defendant in a corruption case. Previously, former Bekasi mayor Mochtar Mohammad was acquitted by the Bandung Corruption Court and former Rokan Hulu regent Hulu Suparman was acquitted by the Pekanbaru Corruption Court. Both rulings were overturned by the Supreme Court (MA), which declared both guilty.
Former Indonesia Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) chief Syafruddin Temenggung was declared guilty by a first-level court and was later cleared of all charges by the MA. The KPK should do an internal examination.
Based on this assumption, the judges\' reasoning must be countered convincingly with evidence by the KPK. Cassation is a legal step to test judges\' ruling in a first-level court.
The judges\' ruling must be respected. We assume that judicial power is independent and free from any influence. Based on this assumption, the judges\' reasoning must be countered convincingly with evidence by the KPK. Cassation is a legal step to test judges\' ruling in a first-level court.
Judges are part of the judicial power. The KPK is constructed as part of the executive power. It must be understood that the spirit of corruption eradication is dimming. Efforts of the political elite to put corruption eradication under control are becoming increasingly visible through the KPK Law revision, one of the points of which is the establishment of a supervisory board. Resistance from the KPK and civil society against the KPK Law revision has been dismissed. Anticorruption groups must admit defeat in the fight to eradicate corruption. The KPK\'s authority is fading because of internal and external institutional problems.
President Joko Widodo\'s administration, which has majority support at the House of Representation, has approved the KPK Law revision. With the new KPK Law and KPK leadership on 20 December 2019, the supervisory board members will be the new overlords at the KPK. All legal steps the KPK wishes to launch, including wire-tapping, confiscation and raids, must be done with permission from the supervisory board. For its first term, the supervisory board members will be picked by President Jokowi.
This is a rough time for the KPK. It is time for anticorruption activists to find a new way to cleanse the nation of corruption. However, we remain convinced that President Jokowi is still committed to eradicating corruption from the nation. Like what his erstwhile rival and current minister Prabowo Subianto said, "Corruption in Indonesia is severe. It\'s already at Stage IV.