| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Activists criticize KPK selection process after final eight names revealed
Jakarta Globe - September 2, 2015
President Joko Widodo on Tuesday announced the final eight candidates to lead the anti-graft agency, known as the KPK, which includes a police general, an intelligence officer, a lawyer and a returning KPK commissioner. The candidates were selected by an ad hoc committee that conducted four stages of screening with hundreds of hopefuls.
"The committee's selection process has failed to weed out problematic candidates from the start and ensure that only very qualified candidates who have shown real commitment to fighting graft go through," Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Febri Hendri said.
Febri highlighted remarks made Brig. Gen. Basaria Panjaitan during an interview with the committee last week as an example, during which she said the KPK should only recruit police officers as investigators.
The KPK had been recruiting independent investigators on its own since 2012, after realizing that relying on the police presents a possible conflict of interests when it is investigating corruption cases inside the police force, dubbed as the most corrupt institution by various studies.
Joining Basaria in the final eight are interim KPK deputy chairman Johan Budi SP and KPK director for cooperation Sujanarko. Saut Situmorang, a staffer at the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and Agus Raharjo, chief of the State Goods and Service Policy Agency were also recommended.
The selection committee listed a number of leading legal professionals, including Alexander Marwata, an Anti-Corruption Court judge. Alexander joins lawyer Surya Tjandra and Laode M Syarif, an activist and lecturer at the Hasanuddin University Law School.
The final eight will join former KPK deputy chairman Busyro Muqoddas and State Secretary expert Roby Arya Brata for a final vetting process at the House of Representatives. The five commissioners will serve a four-year term from Dec. 16.
Choky Ramdhan of the Indonesian Judiciary Watchdog Society (MaPPI) noted that there had been many interventions and threats aired by National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, which could have put pressure on the committee.
"The National Police has made repeated threatening statement to the media regarding the names of the candidates. This greatly distracts and demoralizes the committee in doing their work," he argued.
Budi recently claimed that police had flagged a number of KPK hopefuls, and named at least one of them a suspect, without explaining who and why they are problematic. Budi has also threatened to summon the committee for questioning if these hopefuls made it to the final eight.
The KPK and the National Police have engaged in a bitter rivalry since,when the former investigated a top police general for a corruption case. The National Police responded by opening a criminal case against three KPK commissioners.
Tensions resurfaced again early this year when the KPK named another top general, Budi Gunawan, as a graft suspect, foiling his bid to lead the police force.
The National Police responded by opening a separate criminal cases against all five KPK commissioners and 21 KPK investigators for alleged offenses which date back as far as 10 years.
Analysts and activists have noted that the charges were trumped up, with some able to be categorized as ethical violations and misdemeanors instead of criminal offenses.
See also:
 |