A pretrial hearing move

Kid: A pretrial hearing move right Dad? (belt reads 'suspect')

On Thursday, former Democratic Party legislator Sutan Bhatoegana became the third high-profile graft suspect to file a pretrial motion against his indictment by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) following the controversial ruling earlier this month by South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi, who declared in a pretrial hearing that that the KPK's naming of 'fat bank account' national police chief nominee Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as a graft suspect was invalid.

Kompas - February 28, 2015

The 'Sarpin Effect'

Book reads: Pretrial Hearing

The 'Sarpin Effect' as it is now being called, after a controversial ruling by South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi who declared in a pretrial hearing that that the Corruption Eradication Commission's naming of national police chief nominee Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as a suspect was invalid, has opened a legal loophole for corruption suspects looking to have charges against them quashed before they are even brought to trial.

Kompas - February 25, 2015

Too little too late

Shackles read 'pressure', 'interests' (political) 

Nearly six weeks since his nomination of Budi Gunawan as police chief, triggering a feud between the national police (the Crocodile) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK, the Gecko) after it named Budi a graft suspect, President Widodo has finally scrapped the nomination and put forward another 'fat bank account' cop, deputy police chief Badrodin Haiti instead. Anti-graft activists however say it's too little too late as it fails to address the police's ongoing criminalisation of the KPK which has incapacitated the commission and its work.


Kompas - February 21, 2015

Falling by the wayside

With the government seemingly preoccupied dealing with the fallout from the legal fiasco surrounding the national police's ongoing witch hunt against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which is now targeting not just KPK commissioners, but KPK investigators, the progressive media and pretty much anyone making public statements critical of the police, President Joko Widodo's much touted infrastructure and development projects appear to have fallen by the wayside.


Kompas - February 18, 2015

Political Wildlife

Crocodile: National Police, Gecko: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Rhinoceros: Thick skinned politicians, Rat: Corruptors, Civet Cat (wearing chicken feathers): Wolf in sheep's clothing, Komodo Dragon: AGO, Snake (in the grass) 

It is becoming increasingly clear that the police's criminalisation of the KPK is part of a systematic effort by the political elite to incapacitate the KPK which has earned public praise for its successful prosecution of corrupt officials, judges, generals, businesspeople and politicians.

Kompas - February 14, 2015

Watch out for that apple Mr

Kid: Watch out for that apple Mr, sometimes you can catch listeria (apple reads 'political parties')
Amid health warnings over imported apples contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, critics say President Widodo only has himself to blame for the fiasco surrounding the national police's criminalisation of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and should have stopped Budi Gunawan's nomination for police chief as soon as the KPK named him a suspect a month ago, instead of bowing to the pressure from his party patron, PDI-P chair Megawati Sukarnoputri, known to be close to Budi who served as her security aide during her 2001-2004 presidency. 

Kompas - February 7, 2015

Public confidence in law enforcement

Public confidence in law enforcement took another dive this week after it was revealed that Labora Sitorus – a low ranking Papuan cop with US$119 million in bank accounts and sentenced to 15 years for illegal logging and hoarding fuel – had left the Sorong jail for medical treatment in March 2014 and not returned. Despite being put on the list of most wanted fugitives, it turned out he had been living openly at his mansion in Sorong for the last year and now insists he holds a release letter from the Sorong warden and is threatening to make public claims that he shared his ill gotten wealth with senior police officers in Papua and Jakarta.

Kompas - February 4, 2015