Indonesian President vows legal reform amid scandal

By Muklis Ali

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday promised legal reforms to tackle corruption, as two top law enforcement officials quit over a suspected plot to undermine the country's anti-graft agency.

Yudhoyono said he wanted to eradicate the "legal mafia", in a reference to the network of corrupt judges, lawyers and law enforcers who pervert the legal system in a country where widespread graft is seen as a drag on growth and investment.

The focus on legal reform, one of several policies he pledged when he announced his new government's 100-day programme, coincides with a huge scandal involving the attorney-general's office and police, and amid mounting public frustration over the rotten state of the law enforcement institutions.

"I say to the people of Indonesia, who feel like they have become victims of this mafia in the past, or perhaps even now are a victim, to report this," Yudhoyono told a press conference.

"Let us make our system clean. Let's knock down corruption."

Earlier on Thursday, a top police officer and the deputy attorney-general agreed to resign, according to law enforcement officials, marking a rare case of Indonesian officials taking responsibility for wrongdoing. The two men were suspected of involvement in a plot against Indonesia's anti-graft agency.

The resignations came after a respected team of legal experts, appointed by President Yudhoyono this week to investigate the suspected plot, recommended that the two men should resign.

"I'm relieved and happy because it justifies the system works and that the president is doing the right thing," said political commentator Wimar Witoelar, who has referred to the scandal as Indonesia's Watergate.