File photograph taken on July 8, 2009 shows Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (L) and his wife ready to cast their ballots at a polling station in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. [Xinhua]
While corrupt officials might not be afraid of legal punishment, chief of the Indonesia Constitutional Court Mahfud MD said that they should be humiliated by being held in a ‘special zoo.’
In a serious proposal, Mahfud said that corrupt officials should be held in cages with information about their crimes and photos of victims displayed in front of the cages, just like placards next to animal cages at zoos.
“It is better than asking students to see animals every semester or holiday,” Mahfud said in a discussion on Sunday. “They [corrupt officials] are all animals anyway, people who are corrupt have an animal heart.”
Mahfud stressed the seriousness of his proposal.
“This might not sound serious, but it is interesting to consider and regulate with a law,” he said. “The [existing corruption] law is good, but enforcement is not good.”
A recent survey by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center showed that Indonesians’ perception of how widespread corruption is in the country has worsened under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The Gallup survey found that 91 percent of Indonesians believe corruption is widespread throughout the government. It also found that 86 percent of respondents believe corruption is extensive in the business sector.
Mahfud said that a special zoo for corrupt officials would cause them embarrassment and help alleviate corruption.
“It might be funny, but the effort to punish corrupt officials seems useless and light sanctions have increased the number of corrupt officials because they don’t feel ashamed,” Mahfud said. “Corrupt officials even get special treatment.”
印尼宪法法院院长马福称，腐败官员也许不怕法律惩罚，那么他们应该被关在“特殊动物园”示众受辱。
在这一严肃的提议中，马福指出要把贪官们关笼子示众，并在笼外贴上他们的犯罪信息和受害者的照片，就像动物园里动物的笼子旁的布告一样。
马福在上周日的讨论中说：“这比每学期或每逢节假日让学生参观动物可好多了。腐败官员本质上与动物一样，他们拥有的是禽兽之心。”
马福强调他的这一提议是非常严肃的。
他说：“听起来好像是开玩笑，但真的应该考虑这样做，并为此立法。目前的反腐法律没有问题，但执行效果不好。”
阿布扎比盖洛普中心的一项最新调查显示，印尼人认为在现任总统苏西洛•班邦•尤多约诺领导的政府中，腐败现象比以前更加普遍。
盖洛普的调查称，91%的印尼人认为政府的腐败现象非常普遍。调查还发现，86%的调查对象认为商业部门的腐败很严重。
马福指出，这种特殊动物园能让腐败者感到无地自容，从而减少腐败现象。
马福说：“这也许听起来很有趣，但现在印尼惩治腐败的招数都不奏效，对腐败官员的制裁程度偏轻导致腐败官员增多，因为贪官们都不为此感到羞耻。腐败官员甚至还会受到特殊礼遇。”