INDONESIA: SUPPORT GROWS FOR DEATH PENALTY FOR CORRUPTION CONVICTS

lawmakers, officials and anti-graft activists threw their weight behind calls for the implementation of death penalty for some forms of corruption, while also saying current criteria and procedures for imposing the sentence lack clarity. Speaker of the House of Representatives Agung Laksono said he fully supported capital punishment for those found guilty of major corruption to deter other people from engaging in graft. "In other countries where corruption is widespread, there was a drastic decline in the number of graft cases after the death penalty came into effect," he said. Agung, a seasoned Golkar Party politician, said graft convicts deserved the death penalty because the crime damaged not only one or two families but all society. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has encouraged public discussion of the death penalty for graft convicts, despite objections from human rights groups. KPK deputy chairman for prevention Haryono Umar also expressed support for the death penalty for some of those found guilty. "I think we must be tough on extraordinary corruption," he said.