| The legal politics of President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono depicted by among other, Presidential Instruction No.5/2004 concerning the Acceleration of Corruption Eradication, has turned the Indonesian government institutions to be more repressive toward every suspicious corruptive issue. This Presidential Instruction is in tandem with Government Regulation No.71/2000 concerning the Procedure of Community Participation and Rewarding in Preventing and Eradicating Corruption, issued during the service of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Both of these laws, including others regulations, have significantly fortified the movement against corruption. Government institutions are even willing to act based on information they receive from anonymous letter. However, this euphoria has become identical to hatred and reaction against the allegedly subversive suspect that we were once familiar with during the New Order. The principle of presumption of innocence has been violated. In practice, acts of extortion are spreading like wildfire, outnumbering bribery. This is, in fact, the point where the role of lawyer becomes very important, considering the severe punishment that we have in store for the suspect(s), where-in this era of direct election with overwhelming political parties - the law is often exploited for the sake political interests (character assassination). |