KPK Employees' Resistance Still Continues, Not Expecting Until Next November

JAKARTA - The fight of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees who do not pass the National Insight Test Assessment (TWK) to be appointed as State Civil Apparatus (ASN) continues. Most recently, they completed the lawsuit filed with the Constitutional Court (MK) with dozens of pieces of evidence.

Representatives of 75 KPK employees who were declared not to have passed the TWK submitted 31 pieces of evidence consisting of 2,000 pages containing various laws, regulations, and employee emails to the Constitutional Court.

The evidence was submitted by the Head of the Anti-Corruption Learning Task Force of the KPK, Hotman Tambunan, and the Junior Specialist of the Directorate of Community Development and Participation of the KPK, Benydictus Siumlala Martin Sumarno.

After submitting the evidence, Hotman Tambunan hopes that the Constitutional Court can immediately decide on their application before November. The goal is that this decision will not be in vain because 51 of the 75 inactive employees will be effectively fired on November 1st.

"We ask and hope that the Constitutional Court can decide on this application before November 2021, considering that the article we are requesting is a transitional article that only applies once," Hotman said in his statement after submitting evidence at the Constitutional Court, Thursday, June 10.

Dozens of employees represented by nine people as applicants submitted a judicial review of Article 69 B paragraphs 1 and 69 C of Law (UU) Number 19 of 2019 concerning the second amendment to Law Number 30 of 2002 concerning the KPK which regulates the transfer of employee status to Apparatus State Civil Service (ASN). This application was submitted on June 2.

Hotman said, this lawsuit was filed to strengthen the decision of the Constitutional Court in the case of Decision Number 70/PUU-XVII/2019 which explicitly guarantees the rights of KPK employees which cannot be changed due to the transfer of KPK employees.

Moreover, there has been an unconstitutional interpretation of Article 69 B paragraph (1) and Article 69 C of the KPK Law by using the results of the TWK assessment as the basis for determining whether a person is appointed or not to be an ASN.

According to him, this is an act that does not fulfill the constitutional guarantee of fair and proper treatment in employment relations as regulated in Article 28 (D) paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution as well as various international conventions that have been ratified by Indonesia.

In addition, Hotman also emphasized that TWK cannot be separated from the context of efforts to repulse the mandate of the reform movement which mandates anti-corruption institutions that cannot be intervened.

In their petition, the petitioners also stated that the Constitutional Court should decide on the interim decision in order to avoid greater losses for the applicants due to the planned termination of the TMS employee no later than the end of October.

The nine employees who are applicants are Hotman Tambunan, March Falentino, Rasamala Aritonang, Novariza, Andre Dedy Nainggolan, Lakso Anindito, Faisal, Benydictus Siumlala MS, and Tri Artining Putri. These employees represent various directorates and bureaus in the KPK.

The Ombudsman has clarified the KPK leadership

Efforts to clarify their fate are also not only carried out through lawsuits in the Constitutional Court. In addition to Komnas HAM, dozens of these employees have complained about the alleged maladministration of the TWK process to the Indonesian Ombudsman, which led to a request for clarification from the KPK leadership on Thursday, June 10 yesterday.

In a press conference held online, the Ombudsman has not yet produced a final decision regarding TWK or any recommendations. However, in investigating this allegation, there are three points that become the focus of the institution.

"The first is a matter of legal basis. Especially if the maladministration is about the process of drafting KPK regulations Number 1 of 2021. We are talking about the legal basis," said Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman member, Robert Na Endi Jaweng, in a press conference that was broadcasted online, Thursday, June 10.

Second, the Ombudsman continues to explore the implementation of existing regulations related to the transfer of employment status. Including, whether the socialization of the implementation of the transition has been carried out by related parties such as the leadership of the KPK.

"Then the implementation. So far, it is related to the involvement of other institutions in the transition process, including BKN and other parties," said Robert.

The last point is the consequence of the transition process. Moreover, currently, there are employees who have passed and were appointed but some have been disabled because they did not pass the TWK.

In investigating these three points, the Ombudsman has clarified a number of parties. In addition to the leadership of the KPK, this has been done to the KemenPANRB which is the regulator of personnel management.

Even though he has gotten a general idea because he has summoned the deputy secretary at the ministry, the Ombudsman plans to summon MenPANRB Tjahjo Kumolo later. The goal is to get a clear picture of policies related to the transfer of employment status.

"Then we have invited BKN. Several officials and assessors from BNPT were present. The Director of Prevention of BNPT. But we will invite the Head of BKN because there are explanations related to policies that we have not fully obtained at that time," he said.

With the investigation of this alleged maladministration still ongoing, the Ombudsman has not been able to convey the results or other substances. "We must not precede the process and results," said Robert.

He ensured that the Ombudsman would work independently and maintain integrity in investigating the allegations reported by the 75 disabled KPK employees. The recommendations that will be issued will of course be in accordance with the data and facts.

"If there is maladministration, we will report it. If there is no maladministration, we will also report it," he said.

As previously reported, the TWK was attended by 1,351 KPK employees. Of these, 1,274 people were declared eligible.

Meanwhile, 75 employees, including Novel Baswedan, Chairman of the KPK Employee Forum who is also investigator Yudi Purnomo, Director of Socialization and Anti-Corruption Campaign Giri Suprapdiono, Head of the KPK Task Force Harun Al-Rasyid, and Director of PJKAKI Sujarnarko were declared ineligible (TMS). While the other two employees did not attend the interview test.

In its implementation, the KPK cooperates with BKN which then involves other parties in its implementation, including in making questions. They are the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency, the Army Intelligence Center, the Army Psychology Service, and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT).

However, according to KPK employees, there are a number of irregularities in the implementation of this test, including a number of questions that are considered to violate the private sphere. One of the questions was whether female KPK employees were willing to become second wives and were asked to prefer the Koran or Pancasila.