Muhammadiyah backs death penalty for corruptors

Antara News, Monday, April 12, 2010 07:10 WIB

Bekasi, W Java (ANTARA News) - Din Syamsudin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia`s second largest Islamic organization, has thrown his weight behind the idea to make corruption punishable by death to deter would-be corruptors.

"It seems I agree with the idea to impose the death penalty on corruptors now that prison sentence proves ineffective to give them shock therapy," he said at a function to mark the 100th anniversary of the organization at the Muhammadiyah University campus here on Sunday.

Describing the rampant court mafia practices in the country of late as the phenomenon of iceberg, he said : "Efforts to put an end to the mafia cases must continue for the benefit of the country`s common welfare in the future".

"The increasing number of mafia cases found by law enforcing agencies is a sign that our bureaucratic reforms have not run well," he said.

"I am optimistic that death penalty will be applicable if people from all walks of life support it," he said.

Constitutional Court chairman Mahfud MD said in Palembang, South Sumatra, last Friday he agreed with the idea of imposing the death penalty on corruptors.

The idea had actually existed for a long time but it seemed that some quarters still could not accept it, he told newsmen after speaking at a seminar at Sriwijaya University in Palembang.

Mahfud said if the idea was still unacceptable he would propose "a half death penalty" for them to further deter would-be corruptors.

Asked what he meant by "half death penalty", Mahfud declined to elaborate. He only said that state or government officials who had misused state money had to be dealt with firmly.