Reviewing the Indonesian Anticorruption Court: A Cost-Effective Analysis

Abstract

As part of anticorruption reform, the Indonesian Anticorruption Court Law 2009 mandated the establishment of 514 anti-corruption courts in every city. The Indonesian Supreme Court, however, could only establish 34 courts. Three factors that explain this delay: (1) a lack of budget to fund the court; (2) the limited number of people with the integrity and capacity to serve as ad hoc judges; and (3) distrust from citizens regarding the conviction rate and corruption that occurred within the anticorruption court. Some activist and legal scholars proposed either to evaluate or even abolish the anticorruption court. This article contributes in evaluating the newly created court. There are two indicators, cost per case and collection of monetary penalty that could serve as the basis of cost-effectiveness analysis of the Indonesian Anticorruption Court. As a preliminary review, the prosecution of the crime of corruption is cost-effective if the cases had been prosecuted by the Anticorruption Agency (KPK). Alternative policies based on cost-effectiveness are proposed to improve the performance of the anticorruption court without sacrificing resources.