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In Kalla's latest policy push, another slash at KPK'S authority
Jakarta Globe - July 8, 2015
Vice President Jusuf Kalla first made the call for immunity last week, and on Tuesday announced that a presidential regulation on the matter would be issued imminently.
He denied that the move was "pro-corruption," saying instead that local officials had for years been reluctant to embark on much-needed infrastructure projects because of concerns that they would fall foul of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK.
"If the government issues a presidential regulation, no one can oppose it. How could they?" he said. "What business has the KPK got opposing a presidential regulation issued by the government? Who says it's pro-corruption? This is pro-nation so that [development] can progress," he added.
Kalla said the law on state administration clearly authorized regional chiefs such as governors, mayors and district heads to implement development policies for the betterment of their regions, but that there were currently no provisions to protect them in the event that such policies violated anti-corruption statutes.
"Don't criminalize the policies. Don't press charges at random. If they break the law, arrest them, but don't fault their policies," he said.
Kalla has for several months now touted the need to go easy on regional chiefs who flout prevailing laws to expedite infrastructure projects – a case of the ends justifying the means – and famously gave a glowing testimony earlier this year in the trial of a party colleague and former district chief from West Java who was charged with corruption in connection with a project to build a power plant. The defendant, Irianto "Yance" Mahfudz Sidik Syafiuddin, was later acquitted of all charges, with Kalla's testimony seen as key in swaying the court.
Trump card
KPK officials, however, remain unfazed by what appears to be yet another move by the administration to undermine its authority, saying they would not relent in going after corrupt officials, regardless of the upcoming presidential regulation.
"The KPK will continue to refer to the anti-corruption law if public officials, including regional chiefs, subvert policies or if there are clear indications of criminal intent behind their policies," Indriyanto Seno Adji, an interim deputy chairman of the KPK, said on Tuesday.
He also pointed out that in Indonesia's legal hierarchy, the anti-corruption law trumped any presidential regulation. "So if there is any criminal intent behind public policies, the anti-corruption law will apply," he said.
Johan Budi, another interim KPK deputy chairman, said separately that the presidential regulation, if issued, would go against the spirit of the anti-corruption law. "I feel it's not necessary to have this regulation," he said. "If regional chiefs comply with the rules, there should be no problems."
Systematic undermining
The anticipated presidential regulation has been bandied about by a handful of senior officials, with the glaring exception of the president himself, and appears to be the latest policy move from the administration to hack away at the authority of the KPK.
Kalla last month persuaded President Joko Widodo to drop his opposition to the submission of a bill to parliament aimed at reining in the KPK's powers, in particular its authority to wiretap suspects' phone calls without the need to obtain a warrant from Indonesia's notoriously corrupt judiciary.
"J.K. basically said it was necessary [to amend the KPK law] so that government officials aren't afraid to get things done when the KPK is around," Husain Abdullah, a spokesman for the vice president, said on June 23.
"Keep in mind that a lot of officials are scared of the KPK even before a project gets underway. And if we don't get things like infrastructure projects started right away, when else can we start?"
Husain said that Joko was "of the same mind" as Kalla on the issue of amending the KPK law. "Both of them feel it's necessary. The president accepted the explanation, according to J.K.," Husain said.
Joko himself has also been roundly criticized for effectively setting up the KPK to be targeted by the police in a series of attacks based on trumped-up charges.
Tensions between the antigraft commission and the National Police, widely perceived as the most corrupt institution in the land, escalated in January when the KPK named police general Budi Gunawan, Joko's sole nominee for police chief, a suspect for corruption and money laundering.
Budi, a former close aide to Joko's political patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and in possession of bank accounts holding undeclared millions of dollars, subsequently won a dubious court ruling that bizarrely threw out the charges against him despite the fact that he had not yet been indicted, but Joko's insistence on maintaining his nomination long after he was charged was seen as precipitating a series of blatantly fabricated probes by the police against KPK officials.
Two commissioners – KPK chairman Abraham Samad and deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto – and a veteran investigator, Novel Baswedan, were charged by police in cases going back up to a decade. Abraham and Bambang were subsequently suspended, as per the KPK's statutes for any commissioner facing criminal charges.
Budi, meanwhile, was eventually dropped from the running for police chief – only to be inaugurated later as the deputy to a new chief, Badrodin Haiti, who retires early next year.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/kallas-latest-policy-push-another-slash-kpks-authority/.
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