Corruption and Money Laundering in Indonesia: The (Il)legal Response
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, Professor of Law, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta
Asian Law Institute (ASLI) Fellow 2004-05

Date: Wednesday, 7th March 2005
Time: 2pm
Venue: Lee Sheridan Room, NUS Faculty of Law (across from Reception Counter, 3rd Floor)

ABOUT THE SEMINAR
Corruption has been an ancient issue for the Republic of Indonesia. Surprisingly enough, the first legal stipulation proscribing corruption was found in a Military Commander Decree of 1957, following alleged corruption in the military. This decree lead to a National Act of 1960 – this Act became modified over the years, and subsequently took the form of the latest 2001 Law on Corruption. At the end of 2002, a Commission Against Corruption was established. By 2004, a Special Court for Corruption was in place. Despite continuous modifications to the laws and institutions for combating corruption, the prevalence of corruption has not abated to this day. In 2002, Indonesia issued a Law on Money Laundering, arising from international (particularly IMF) pressure to boost anti-corruption measures. A Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Center was also established, followed by an amendment to the money laundering law in 2003. Unfortunately, up to this day, no one has ever been brought before the courts on money laundering charges. The penal policy has apparently failed to address these problems effectively. This seminar will attempt to analyse corruption and money laundering in Indonesia from within and beyond the domains of the criminal law.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tuti Harkrisnowo is Professor of Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia (UI). She obtained her first degree in law from UI and proceed to pursue an MA and PhD at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She was Deputy Dean for Student Affairs at the Faculty of Law of UI and filled the Chair of the Department of Criminal Law for eight years. At UI, Tuti teaches Criminal Law, Law on Specific Crimes, Human Rights and the Law, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Penology and Legal Research Methods. She is currently on leave from UI and is a Visiting Fellow at the Asian Law Institute (ASLI) at NUS.

Tuti has been a member of the National Law Commission of Indonesia since 2000. She was recently appointed to the expert team set up by the Attorney-General of Indonesia to combat corruption. However, as Tuti puts it,  things are not progressing as expected, due to internal resistance and external reluctance. 

ABOUT THE ASIAN LAW INSTITUTE (ASLI)
ASLI was established in March 2003 by a group of leading law schools in Asia. Based at the NUS Faculty of Law, its goal is to facilitate academic exchanges as well as research and teaching collaboration among colleagues from the ten founding institutions. The establishment of ASLI stems from the recognition that the diversity of legal traditions in Asia creates an imperative for Asian legal scholars to foster greater engagement with each other through collaborative research and teaching. For more on ASLI, click on http://law.nus.edu.sg/asli