Jakarta. Former Indonesian deputy manpower minister Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan sarcastically said he should have committed larger-scale corruption if he had known prosecutors would seek a five-year prison sentence against him, following a court hearing on Monday night.

Immanuel is standing trial in a corruption and extortion case related to the issuance of occupational health and safety certifications by the Manpower Ministry.

In addition to the prison demand, prosecutors are also seeking restitution payments of Rp 1.4 billion after Immanuel voluntarily returned Rp 3 billion in state funds.

After the hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, Immanuel questioned what he described as inconsistencies in sentencing demands between himself and other defendants in the same graft case.

“Someone accused of taking Rp 75 billion ($4.2 million) was only prosecuted for six years, while I, who allegedly took Rp 3 billion, am facing five years. I regret it -- I should have committed as much corruption as possible because the difference in sentencing demand is only one year,” he told reporters.

He also referred to another defendant in the same case, Hery Sutanto, a former senior official at the Manpower Ministry who is facing a seven-year sentence demand despite allegedly receiving around Rp 4 billion.

“I feel sorry for Mr. Hery. He allegedly took only Rp 4 billion, yet he received the highest sentence demand of seven years. This is crazy. I do not understand the legal logic,” Immanuel said.

Under Indonesian law, senior officials with greater authority and responsibility can receive heavier sentences than their subordinates in corruption cases.

Despite criticizing the prosecution’s demands, Immanuel said he still respected the legal process and would prepare a personal defense statement for the next hearing.

He added that he planned to explain several policies he introduced while in office that he believed favored workers, including efforts to combat the practice of employers withholding employees’ academic certificates and his criticism of outsourcing systems that he said disadvantaged laborers.

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