JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Civil society groups have criticized Minister of Law & Human Rights Yasonna H. Laoly, who is also politician from PDI-P, over his controversial plan to revise the Government Regulation (PP) No. 99/2012 on remission for inmates with particular criminal charges such as corruption, terrorism, and drug abuse.
Those criticism come from, among others, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Setara Institute, and also former Commisisoner of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Busyro Muqoddas.
Emerson Yuntho of ICW warned President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that Minister Yasonna’s plan will trigger people to question Jokowi’s commitment on supporting corruption eradication.
Minister Yasonna earlier revealed his plan to revise PP 99/2012. Yasonna shared his views that PP 99/2012 is discriminative.
The PP 99/2012 itself has been the subject of public debate ever since the PP was issued by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). The PP 99/2012 was issued as the amendment of PP 32/1999 on the rights of prisoners.
Those who favor PP 99/2012 insist that for people convicted of certain crimes such as corruption, terrorism, and drug trafficking, the restriction of remission, assimilation and parole is justifiable.
But several groups of politicians whose the opponents to the PP 99/2012 said the regulation violates prisoners’ rights as regulated in Law No. 12/1995 on corrections. So therefore, they called on SBY’s government to evaluate the regulation. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.com)