There Has Been No State Loss Due To The Pre-employment Card Program, The KPK Preferred Prevention

KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri (Photo: KPK Public Relations Documentation)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) ensures that there is no state loss due to the Pre-Work Card program. This was confirmed after the KPK conducted a study. This reason is why the KPK prefers to provide advice through their studies rather than taking action.

"Many friends ask how much state finances have been disbursed due to the Pre-employment Card. That is not our authority. But what is certain is that until today there has been no loss of state finances and the Pre-employment Card program has not caused state losses to this day," said Firli in a joint hearing with Commission III DPR RI, Thursday, 25 June.

According to him, the study conducted by the KPK regarding the program was a step to prevent corruption and the results were submitted to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto.

"The government listened to the KPK's voice, so the pre-work card implementation was postponed until today," he said.

"What we are doing is in order to prevent corruption. It would be better if we save state money than if we arrest someone but the money has already disappeared first," he added.

Previously, a number of parties considered that the Pre-Work Card program which was included as a social safety net for people affected by COVID-19 should be stopped. Moreover, the 'fishy smell' of the corruption scandal was detected in the program.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo said the Pre-Work Card program, which is one of the social safety net assistance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, needs to be stopped immediately.

"We have to stop this program because the structural design is wrong, the goal is wrong, the intention is wrong. Therefore, we better stop this program," said Adnan in a discussion entitled 'Will the KPK Findings End in a Mega Scandal of 5.6 Trillion Pre-Work Cards ? ' on the Prakerja.org YouTube account, Thursday, 26 June.

He said, instead of spending budget money on programs such as Pre-Work Cards, the budget should be converted into pure cash direct assistance (BLT).

This is because fresh money is considered more needed and can build social resilience in the midst of a crisis like this, rather than providing programs that cannot be directly felt by the community.

He said that if this Pre-Work Card program continues, the KPK should immediately enter into prosecution steps.

"Because the fishy smell is clear enough and there is no option for the KPK not to take legal action," he said.

Adnan assessed that if there was no prosecution process from the KPK that had conducted a study and found irregularities, it was not impossible that these kinds of projects would re-emerge.

"If the Pre-employment Card passes as a policy, new prey will emerge and this could eat up the budget actually allocated to deal with the impact of the pandemic," he said.

Prakerja.org initiator Andri Kusuma spoke up about the KPK study. According to him, Prakerja.org appreciates the KPK's study on the government's Pre-Employment Card. It's just that he hopes that the KPK study can continue to the prosecution stage. Because, he considered that a number of criminal acts in the program had occurred.

"The mens rea is also very bright, in which the KPK stated in its study, conflicts of interest between digital platforms and training institutions and the five digital platforms that hold training and curation roles advertise training in the same company," he concluded.