The Corruption Eradication Commission's 16 Years Journey

Firli Bahuri when giving his first speech as the Chairman of the KPK (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has entered the age of 16. Like teenagers growing up, the KPK has gone through various obstacles and obstacles in eradicating corruption in this country.

This anti-corruption institution also has a new leader and supervisory board, to pay attention to the KPK's performance in eradicating corruption. The new KPK chairman, Firli Bahuri, will be the captain in leading the large ships of anti-oil institutions in this country.

"All the crew and passengers of the ship did not make a scene so that the big ship was ready to sail the ocean, breaking through the waves and waves and storms," Firli said in his written statement, Sunday, December 29.

Firli may feel optimistic about the increasing age of the KPK. But not with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW). ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana considers the anti-graft institution's birthday to be full of sorrow.

"On the KPK's birthday, the public should mourn because the KPK has actually been crippled by the Government and the DPR," said ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana in Jakarta, Sunday, December 29.

Not only full of sorrow, this anti-corruption activist also firmly stated that 2019 was a real year for the destruction of the KPK, which was directly sponsored by President Joko Widodo and members of the Indonesian Parliament for the 2014-2019 period and the 2019-2024 period.

Jokowi's contribution in plunging the KPK into ruin was evidenced by the existence of a selection committee (pansel) for the KPK leadership candidates which later resulted in a polemic.

Because, of the nine members of the Pansel, three of them have close ties with the police agency. In addition, Kurnia also assessed that the selection process carried out by the committee for the candidates for the leadership of the KPK for the 2019-2023 period did not match the value of integrity.

The evidence is clear, according to Kurnia, that until now there is a KPK leader who has been inaugurated at this time but has not yet reported his assets through the LHKPN. Apart from that, code of ethics violators also turned out to be able to pass the selection.

"That is a crucial note related to the track record. The Palace and the DPR have succeeded in passing a figure suspected of violating the code of ethics," said Kurnia.

Not only that, Kurnia also accused Jokowi of committing violations of the law because he appointed one of the KPK leaders, Nurul Ghufron, who was not yet 50 years old, in accordance with the KPK Law. "The presence of Nurul Ghuffron as KPK leader violates the laws and regulations," he said.

ICW also ensures that Law Number 19 of 2019 concerning the KPK is a regulation that endangers the anti-graft agency going forward. One of them is related to the Supervisory Board and Presidential Regulation.

According to Kurnia, currently Jokowi is trying to build a narrative of good people in a system. This good person was shown by choosing Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, Artidjo Alkostar, Albertina Ho, Harjono, and Syamsuddin Haris as the KPK Supervisory Board.

This election, said Kurnia, was deliberately carried out in order to get public appreciation and seemed to want to show that there was no problem with the council, which was formed for the first time.

"But we see the opposite. Anyone who fills a post in the Supervisory Board will actually endanger the KPK because the KPK prosecution process will continue to run slowly with the presence of Law Number 19 of 2019," he explained.

#DefinitionPKPKPreparation #ReformDicorruption pic.twitter.com/4tAkH7qPpj

- ICW (@antikorupsi) December 27, 2019

In addition to the issue of the KPK Dewas containing good people, Kurnia also said that the Jokowi administration had deliberately built a narrative about the death penalty for corruption convicts. According to him, this discourse will be used by the Palace to shift the debate over the KPK Perppu.

Reflecting on the fact that the KPK Perppu has not yet been published to save the institution, Kurnia agrees that Jokowi has broken his promise. Moreover, Jokowi had previously considered issuing a Perppu. "The current president seems to run away from the problem and does not provide any solution to the public after destroying the KPK," he concluded.