Who can save the Indonesian Anti-Coruption Commission?

Not long ago the Indonesian Commission for the Elimination of Corruption (KPK.) was celebrated as a success story. But on 12 May2021 economist Emil Salim warned Indonesians not to trust the official wing of the KPK. How has the shift in trust come about?

Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission in dire straits
Energised by political vengeance, a tremendous backlash against the KPK in late 2019 from the ruling coalition of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and his patron Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri has led to a new and defective KPK law.
UNCAC Coalition Statement on threats to the independence of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission KPK

We, the undersigning civil society organisations, have been monitoring developments in Indonesia regarding the revision of the law governing Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission or locally known as Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK).

We share the grave concerns of Indonesia’s leading civil society corruption watchdog groups regarding the implications of recent amendments to the KPK law, which endanger the anti-corruption agency’s independence and undermine its ability to effectively prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption.

Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Commitment Remains Strong

Eradication of corruption necessarily requires the commitment of the state organizers. Although there are many actors in the fight against corruption, the government's commitment as the center of the source of policies and direction of eradicating corruption must be measurable.

Of course there are many ways of measuring the strength of the commitment to eradicate corruption. One of them is to see how many commitments have been fulfilled or implemented as a condition to the criteria of a succesful country in terms of eradication of corruption.

Rushed Appointment of KPK’s Deputy for Enforcement

KPK finally has a new Deputy for Enforcement after this position was vacated by Inspector General (Pol) Heru Winarko, who was inaugurated as Head of BNN. The new Deputy for Enforcement is Brigadier General Firli who previously served as the Chief of NTB Regional Police. The process of appointment, from the vacancy to inauguration, is relatively short, i.e. from the beginning of March to the first week of April 2018.

Transparency in the Recruitment of Law Enforcement Deputy and Director of Investigation of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)

In early March 2018, KPK announced the recruitment for the positions of law enforcement deputy and director of investigation. The former position was held by Insp. Gen. Heru Winarko, who has been installed as the new head of National Narcotics Agency (BNN), while the latter by Brig. Gen. Aris Budiman, who decided to return to the headquarters of the Indonesian national police.

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