The death penalty may provide a temporary deterrent effect. However, without system improvements, corruption would continue to recur, Prof. Henry told suarakarya.id in Jakarta, on March 13.

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – News uncovering corruption of hundreds of trillions of rupiah has opened up space for discussion on the application of the death penalty.

The cases of state-owned enterprises of PT Pertamina, PT Timah, and PT Antam reflect the increasing public unrest.

Many have then proposed the application of the death penalty to make fear and a deterrent effect.

Indonesian Legal expert Prof. Dr. Henry Indraguna assessed that the problem is not only about the weak implementation of the rules, but also the design of the system that is often manipulated by corrupt politicians and the financial power of the oligarchy.

There are likewise those who have proposed that the application of the death penalty also apply to law enforcement officers. Police officers, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, and commissioners at the Corruption Eradication Commission (locally known as its initial KPK).

"The death penalty, for example for law enforcers, may provide a temporary deterrent effect. However, without system improvements, corruption would continue to recur," Prof. Henry told suarakarya.id in Jakarta, Thursday (March 13).

According to him, big corruption cases such as tosee in Jiwasraya (a state-owned life insurance company), PT Pertamina, PT Timah, PT Antam show a pattern in which the main perpetrators at the top level often get away with it, while the ‘pawns’ who are the executors are actually used as scapegoats.

Prof. Henry is of the view that the act of placing the law under politics allows large capital owners or black oligarchs to fund politicians to protect their interests.

"There is always discourse, whoever suspects is asked to prove it. Even when data that could be used as evidence is attached as a report, it also stalls. This proves that the people have no power to prove. They have no authority to examine witnesses, and they don't even have access to conduct investigations," the Professor from Unissula (the Sultan Agung Islamic University) in Indonesia’s Semarang city said.

So can the death penalty be a solution?

The doctor of law from UNS (the state university of Sebelas Maret) in Indonesia’s Surakarta city and private University of Borobudur in Jakarta is of the opinion that there is no guarantee that the death penalty is the best solution, because if the law can still be intervened by political forces or power, it could result in innocent people being charged with corruption as they are not in line with power.

"Then what if they have been executed. There is nothing more that can be done to revive a dead person, right?" he stated.

Currently, the public can only pressure the authorities not to intervene in the law. Pressure can also be given to law enforcers to act professionally.

"Public pressure can be through mainstream media or social media and civil society solidarity that become the key. For example, by revealing small data that can be made viral," he expounded.

From these small things, it can be a foothold and accustom law enforcers to be brave not to be selective. It could be that the initial focus is on local cases that are easier to prove to be a foothold towards a big scandal.

"No matter how good the system is, if the control is in the wrong hands, no matter how severe the punishment is, it will not be enough," the Deputy Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Indonesian Advocates Congress (KAI) said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window