JAKARTA: The death penalty could be handed down for graft convicts should the people will it so, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said on Monday (Dec 9).

Jokowi was responding to a question by a student at a function commemorating International Anticorruption Day, which falls on Dec 9, at a public vocational school in South Jakarta, on Monday morning.

Student Harley Hermansyah asked the President about capital punishment for perpetrators of graft.

“Why is our country not very strict in handling corrupt (officials)? Why don’t we dare to give them the death penalty like in advanced nations?” Harley asked, as quoted by kompas.com.

The President explained to the student that the existing law did not stipulate the death sentence for graft suspects, except for those committing corruption in connection with national disaster mitigation.

Article 2 Paragraph 1 of the 2001 Corruption Law stipulates that corruption and self-enrichment offences that cause state losses constitute crimes that are punishable by death if they occur during a national disasters.

After the event, journalists asked the president whether he had ever considered revising the law to include the death penalty for graft perpetrators.

“If it's the people's will to include (capital punishment) in the Criminal Code (or) Corruption Law, it can be put in, ” Jokowi replied, adding that it was possible for the government to initiate a revision of the 2001 law “if the people want it”.

Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, who also attended the event, later confirmed that the death penalty could already be used against graft convicts in certain situations.

“It can be used for people who commit graft [in relation to] natural disasters, ” he said, “but there are variables that must be considered, such as the amount (of losses caused).”

In addition to natural disasters, the 2001 Corruption Law allows for the death penalty to be imposed in “certain situations”, namely if the act of corruption is committed when the country is in danger, including during economic or monetary crises.

- ANN