Intensifying informal communication and cutting red tape within the framework of good neighborly relations has been proven to be effective for repatriating Indonesian fugitives from countries where they are hiding.
At least 28 Indonesian corruption fugitives are reportedly on the most-wanted list of the State Intelligence Agency ( BIN ). Most of those on the list are hiding overseas, including in neighboring Singapore. Although, in many cases, law enforcement bodies are aware of their whereabouts, legal challenges have hampered efforts to bring them home for prosecution.
Indonesia and Singapore signed a joint extradition treaty and defense cooperation agreement in April 2007, but nearly a decade after the signing, the pact has yet to be ratified by Indonesian lawmakers.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said there were various ways to retrieve Indonesian fugitives overseas without relying on the extradition treaty. These included immigration-related procedures, such as revoking a person’s permanent-resident status as was used in the case of high-profile fugitive Hartawan Aluwi, he added.
Indonesia recently brought home Hartawan Aluwi and Samadikun Hartono, from Singapore and China, respectively.
Money-laundering fugitive Hartawan, who has just been detained after eight years on the run abroad, arrived last Thursday after being deported from Singapore. This February, his permanent residency status in Singapore was revoked due to the fraud case. He was named a suspect in 2008 and given a 14-year prison sentence and a Rp 10 billion ( US$757,300 ) fine in July 2015. However, in 2008 he fled the country and has been in Singapore ever since.
Arrmanatha brushed aside a report saying Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi had handed over a list of fugitives to Singapore, adding that cooperation between the two countries was essential.
“Indonesia and Singapore have acted effectively with or without such a list. This was reflected in how Indonesia managed to bring home Hartawan and graft convict Gayus Tambunan,” he said.
“There is cooperation between Indonesia and other countries, but the authority is not in the hands of the Foreign Ministry or Indonesian embassies, but with the Attorney General’s Office and coordinating political, legal, and security affairs minister,” he said.
Special staffer to the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister, Atmadji Sumarkidjo, underlined the importance of intensifying interaction between countries as waiting for the legal avenue might take too much time.
“It is clearly more effective to cut out stages in bringing fugitives home,” he said.
Atmadji was reported by foreign media on Wednesday as saying that Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi had already handed over a list of the fugitives’ names to Singapore for it to follow up, which he denied ever saying. He said he had been misquoted when he said that “the Indonesian government already have the list of fugitives residing in Singapore.”
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan recently said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had ordered the government and law enforcement bodies to work closely with relevant parties overseas to arrest Indonesian convicts.
The Straits Times reported that Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs previously said the country would “cooperate with and provide assistance to Indonesia within the ambit of our laws and our international obligations”.
