KAMPAK Merah Putih KPK Ultimatum, Investigate Allegations Of Corruption At The Ministry Of Health

Photo: Doc. Anti-Corruption Youth Student Action Community (KAMPAK)

JAKARTA - The Central Leadership Council of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Youth Student Action Community (KAMPAK) held a demonstration in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building, Friday 10 December.

This action is a protest over the alleged misuse of public money managed by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes).

"Today, the pandemic is not over and all of us, the people of Indonesia, feel the pain and the economic downturn. However, it is very unfortunate that in this people's economic downturn, there are still unscrupulous officials who only care about themselves," said Action Coordinator, Miwardi Nasution when delivering an oration in front of the KPK Building, quoted from his written statement.

In their action, they asked President Joko Widodo to remove the Minister of Health (Menkes), Budi Gunadi Sadikin for allegedly committing Collusion, Corruption and Nepotism (KKN) related to the purchase of Rapid Antigen Test Products.

The budget for the purchase of Rapid Antigen Tests for the 2021 Fiscal Year (FY) is Rp. 1.6 trillion.

Miwardi Nasution said that the Minister of Health should be suspected of playing a role in the project to procure the Rapid Antigen Test.

"Therefore, we urge President Jokowi to immediately remove this Minister of Health," he stressed.

According to him, the Minister of Health is one of the sources of problems in this government. Therefore, if the Minister of Health remains part of this government, all government agendas in the health sector will be neglected.

The reason is that the nuances of profit-taking are very thick behind the Minister of Health's policy regarding the Rapid Antigen Test tool.

"From a total budget of approximately IDR 744.75 trillion for the handling of COVID-19 and the National Economic Recovery, there are elements of allegations of corruption, especially the budget managed by the Minister of Health in 2021 of approximately IDR 1.6 trillion for spending on Rapid Test Antigen products," he said.

For this reason, he urged the KPK to research and trace the use of the COVID-19 handling budget, especially those allocated for the Health sector at the Ministry of Health.

Because it is strongly suspected that there is a sense of rent hunting behind the use of the budget.

"We have an ultimatum not to underestimate the alleged corruption in the Ministry of Health. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) must have the courage to investigate allegations of corruption related to the spending of Rapid Antigen Test Products with a budget of approximately Rp. 1.6 trillion, which is managed by the Minister of Health, "he explained.

Meanwhile, the orator of KAMPAK Merah Putih Indonesia, Bima Putra, asked the Chairman of the KPK, Firli Bahuri, not to just talk about eradicating corruption without taking concrete action.

"Don't just talk, but we are really waiting for direct action, to dismantle and arrest the mafias who misuse the people's money from the COVID-19 budget, especially the purchase of Rapid Test Antigen products," he concluded.