April 11, 2025 | 11:09 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has stated that President Prabowo Subianto's sympathy towards the families of corruptors is misplaced. Prabowo had previously suggested that the impoverishment of these families should be addressed with caution and fairness.
"Prabowo needs to see the reality that in Indonesia, injustice is more felt by the victims of corruption (the broader public) rather than by the corrupt individuals and their families," asserted ICW Researcher Wana Alamsyah in an official statement released on Friday, April 11, 2025.
According to Wana, as a president who has strongly declared his intention to combat corruption, Prabowo should recognize corruption as a white-collar crime primarily motivated by wealth accumulation.
In the context of corruption cases, Wana pointed out that family members of corrupt individuals often directly participate in the illicit activities as perpetrators or are indirectly involved as recipients or beneficiaries of the ill-gotten gains, effectively acting as passive accomplices.
"One common method employed is money laundering to conceal the origins of the funds obtained through corruption," Wana explained.
Based on ICW's analysis of trends in corruption case prosecutions from 2015 to 2023, there were 46 cases involving family members. ICW data indicates that law enforcement identified 87 suspects in these cases, with 44 percent, or 39 individuals, being family members of those involved in corruption.
Wana also emphasized the importance of the Asset Forfeiture Bill, a legal instrument designed to impoverish corruptors, which has yet to be enacted. "The slow process of ratifying the Asset Forfeiture Bill could be exploited by corrupt individuals to secure assets derived from dirty money and launder them by transferring and concealing these assets through their family members," Wana warned.
Wana argued that if President Prabowo is committed to eradicating corruption and delivering a deterrent effect to corruptors, he should readily urge the House of Representatives (DPR) to promptly process the bill, which has been proposed since 2012. This should be feasible, Wana noted, given that Prabowo's political coalition holds a dominant majority of over 80 percent of the seats in the legislature.
However, the Asset Forfeiture Bill was not included in the National Legislative Program (Prolegnas) priority list for 2025. Previously, President Prabowo, during an interview with seven journalists in Hambalang, West Java, had stated that the state has the right to confiscate corruptors' assets.
"So, the state is entitled to confiscate the assets that caused losses to the state," Prabowo said on Sunday, April 6, 2025, as reported by Antara news agency.
However, Prabowo then added that the impoverishment of corrupt individuals' families needs to be done carefully.
"We also have to be fair to the children and their wives [of the corruptors]. If there are assets that already belonged to them before [the corruptors] took office, then legal experts will discuss whether it's fair for their children to suffer as well. Because in reality, the sins of parents should not be inherited by their children," Prabowo said.
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