| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
House deliberates revision of KPK laws despite public outcry
Jakarta Globe - February 10, 2016
The lawmakers proposed four revisions altering the scope of the KPK's powers in the following areas: methods of conducting investigations, wiretapping, recruitment protocols and the establishment of a supervisory body to monitor the KPK.
Firman Subagyo, deputy chairman of the Legislative Body, said the four areas of revision will be deliberated by the working committee. This is because the law only permits the body to discuss any possible amendments to existing laws for a maximum of up to 20 days.
The committee will also schedule a meeting with KPK commissioners. In an apparent sign of rejection, the commissioners earlier refused to attend the discussions on the issue with the Legislative Body last week, and sending some deputies and spokespeople instead.
The revisions have been proposed by 45 lawmakers from President Joko Widodo's ruling coalition.
Facing the music
This decision on the working committee came despite an outpour of criticism from the public, legal experts and anti-graft activists.
Abdul Hadjar Fickar, a legal expert from Trisakti University, said the proposed revisions are in fact part of a clear attempt to weaken the KPK, adding that the House is misleading the public by saying that the proposed revisions are strengthening the KPK.
"There are currently [legal] mechanisms to control and supervise the KPK, such as a pretrial motion. Even if KPK commissioners [have] abused their power, they can be [criminally charged]. The supervisory body's [proposed revisions are intended] to weaken the KPK," Abdul said.
Abdul also criticized the proposed amendment granting the KPK the authority to issue a case termination letter thereby allowing the KPK to drop a charge at any point. He argued that anti-graft commissioners may be the subject of political pressure or bribery in exchange for dropping an investigation or charge.
Aradila Caesar, a researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said the revisions would make the anti-graft agency prone to many possible forms of intervention.
He said that the establishment of a supervisory body, which will also be appointed by and responsible to the president, would be one such form of intervention. Additionally, on wiretapping, which requires the proposed body's approval, would mean the anti-graft agency would have less authority than the body supervising it, Aradila said.
The KPK will also be prone to intervention from other law enforcement agencies and there will likely be a conflict of interests if the KPK may only recruit investigators and prosecutors from the National Police or Attorney General's Office, as proposed. This is especially the case if the KPK were to investigate a case linked to the police or the AGO.
An online petition titled "Don't Kill the KPK, End KPK Law Revisions" has since been launched by Suryo Bagus, an alumnus of the Anticorruption School, an institution co-founded by Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Indonesian-language petition on the website Change.org had been signed by more than 57,000 people.
This year's plans for the revisions came after House lawmakers proposed changes to the KPK law last year, which included stripping the anti-graft body of the authority to conduct wiretapping without a warrant and the authority to prosecute its own cases. The proposal was scrapped after massive public outcry.
Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/house-deliberates-revision-kpk-laws-despite-public-outcry/.
See also:
 |