Recent Indonesian
constitutional court
decisions on corruption
by Simon Butt
Terminology
• KPK = the Corruption Eradication
Commission
• KKN = corruption, collusion and
nepotism
• Tipikor Court = Anti-Corruption Court
Recent headlines in the
Indonesian Press…
Mahkamah
Mafia
Peradilan
[Court of the
Judicial Mafia]
The Tipikor Case
Article 24A(5) of the Constitution states
that:
‘The organization, position, personnel and
procedural law of the Supreme Court and
the judicial bodies below it [including the
Tipikor Court] are regulated by (dengan)
statute’.
Act which breaks the law case
Article 2(1) states ‘Every person who by means
of an act which breaks the law enriches
themselves or another…which could damage
state finances or the state economy’ faces up to
life imprisonment and a fine of 1 billion rupiah
[approximately US$100,000]’.
The Elucidation to Article 2(1) states that acts
that break the law do not have to be breaches of
written laws. They can also be acts which merely
‘do not accord with the feeling of justice or social
norms in the community’.