Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto arrives at 10 Downing Street, London, ahead of a meeting with the British prime minister. (EPA Images pic)
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has said he might pardon people who engaged in graft if they return what they stole, underlining his commitment to tackle corruption.
Speaking before hundreds of Indonesian university students in Cairo on Wednesday during his visit to Egypt, Prabowo said he would implement a plan to retrieve ill-gotten gains in the coming weeks or months.
“Hey, you corrupters, or those who feel that you have stolen from the people, if you return what you stole, we might forgive you. But please return it,” Prabowo said.
He did not give details on his plan, but said his government might provide ways for wrongdoers to discreetly return what was stolen.
Prabowo took office in Oct 20, vowing to eradicate corruption and introduce a “realistic” approach to preventing it by increasing wages of state officials entrusted with large budgets.
Experts have highlighted a slowdown in Indonesia’s anti-corruption drive during the 10-year administration of his predecessor, Joko Widodo.
Prabowo also warned any Indonesian who received incentives offered by the state to “pay their obligation”. It was not immediately clear what he was referring to.
“As long as you pay your obligation, abiding by the law, then we will look to the future, we will not bring up what happens in the past,” he said, without elaborating.
Indonesia under Widodo had a tax amnesty programme where the government provided opportunities for individuals to declare obligations or assets they had not paid tax on, in a move aimed at boosting tax compliance.
Indonesia’s law minister did not immediately respond to a request for clarification about Prabowo’s plans.
Prabowo’s amnesty idea follows his decision last week to pardon about 44,000 prisoners – about 30% of the prison population – from drug offenders to activists convicted of defamation and people jailed in the restive province of Papua for criticising the government.
