Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Opening of Working Meeting of Attorney General’s Office, Monday, 14 December 2020, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good Morning,

Peace and prosperity be upon us,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of virtue.

Distinguished Minister of State Secretary;

Distinguished Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia;

Distinguished Assistants Attorney General and Head of the Indonesian Prosecutors’ Training Agency;

Honorable Officials of Echelon 2, Echelon 3;

Honorable Heads of the High Prosecutor’s Office, Heads of the State Prosecutor’s Office, and all staff throughout Indonesia;

Honorable invitees of the 2020 Working

Meeting of Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Attorney General’s Office is the leading institution in law enforcement in the prevention and eradication of corruption and of course, in guarding the success of national development.

The AGO’s performance is the face of the Government. Once again, the AGO’s performance is the face of legal certainty in the eyes of the domestic and international public. Without a clean and trustworthy prosecutor, an important foundation for national development will also be fragile. Public trust in law enforcement agencies must continue to be improved. The integrity and professionalism of the prosecutors are imperative. Internal supervision and discipline must be continuously strengthened.

The AGO must be clean. The AGO must be able to become a role model for professional and integrity law enforcers.

Honorable Guests,

Effective improvements from upstream to downstream within the AGO and its relations with other law enforcement agencies must continue to be put in place. Recruitment and promotion must be conducted in a meritocratic, transparent, and open manner. The integrity of the prosecutors, national insight, and readiness to face future legal problems must be prioritized. Therefore, the capacity of human resources of the AGO that is relevant to the 4.0 industrial revolution must also be prioritized. An efficient, transparent work system must be pursued. Manual methods that are slow and prone to corruption must be eliminated.

I appreciate the development of an integrated information technology-based case handling system developed by the AGO. This is great. Moreover, it has been synergized with Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the National Police, Correctional Facilities, and the Court. But it is important that the data and technology must be updated, it must be updated.

At the same time, internal supervision must be made effective so that the prosecutors’ human resources act professionally. Case handling must be directed at correcting the wrongdoing of the perpetrator, correcting the perpetrator’s (misbehavior), and restoring (the condition) of the crime victims. Corruption handling must also be able to increase the return of criminal assets to the state. Earlier, the Attorney General stated that approximately Rp19 trillion has been returned to the state. It’s a substantial amount of money. And, of course, it can prevent further corruption.

As the Government’s power holder, the AGO must work hard to defend the interests of the state, save state assets. However, law enforcement should not cause fear that hinders acceleration or innovation. Supervision must be directed at accelerating national development, especially on the use of the State Budget which must be spent quickly and precisely for the benefit of the people and to bring our country, Indonesia, escape the current health and economic crisis.

Esteemed Guests,

Apart from the above commitments, the commitment to settling past human rights abuse must be continued. The AGO is a key actor in resolving past human rights violations. Concrete progress in the effort to resolve past human rights violations needs to be seen immediately. Cooperation with related parties, especially with the National Commission on Human Rights, needs to be made effective.

Anticipation of future challenges must also be continuously improved. The AGO must conduct early detection of various possible crimes in the future. The AGO must be part of preventing crimes against state security, such as terrorism, money laundering and human trafficking, as well as other crimes that have an impact on the country’s economy.

This concludes my remarks in this auspicious occasion, and by saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I declare the 2020 Working Meeting of Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia officially open.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Om Santi Santi Santi Om,

Namo Buddhaya.

Translated by Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Reviewed by Muhardi