While corrupt officials might not be afraid of legal punishment, chief of the Indonesia Constitutional Court Mahfud MD said that they should be humiliated by being held in a ‘special zoo.’

In a serious proposal, Mahfud said that corrupt officials should be held in cages with information about their crimes and photos of victims displayed in front of the cages, just like placards next to animal cages at zoos.

“It is better than asking students to see animals every semester or holiday,” Mahfud said in a discussion on Sunday. “They [corrupt officials] are all animals anyway, people who are corrupt have an animal heart.”

Mahfud stressed the seriousness of his proposal.

“This might not sound serious, but it is interesting to consider and regulate with a law,” he said. “The [existing corruption] law is good, but enforcement is not good.”

A recent survey by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center showed that Indonesians’ perception of how widespread corruption is in the country has worsened under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Gallup survey found that 91 percent of Indonesians believe corruption is widespread throughout the government. It also found that 86 percent of respondents believe corruption is extensive in the business sector.

Mahfud said that a special zoo for corrupt officials would cause them embarrassment and help alleviate corruption.

“It might be funny, but the effort to punish corrupt officials seems useless and light sanctions have increased the number of corrupt officials because they don’t feel ashamed,” Mahfud said. “Corrupt officials even get special treatment.”

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)