Ex-KPK Leaders The Value Of Closed Meetings Of KPK And DPR RI Violates The Principle Of Openness

KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri during the visit of the Indonesian Parliament to the KPK Detention Center (Photo: PR KPK)

JAKARTA - Former KPK Chairman Bambang Widjojanto asked the KPK and Commission III of the DPR RI to explain explicitly to the public their reasons for holding a closed meeting at the KPK's Red and White House on Tuesday, July 7. He considered that this was necessary so that the public would know what the purpose and objective of the meeting was to be held in private.

"There must be very strong reasons that must be explained openly why (the hearing, ed) is being held behind closed doors. This needs to be done so that fraud and conflicts of interest do not occur," said Bambang in a written statement, Wednesday, July 9.

He considered that the closed meeting violated the most important principle in the KPK Law, namely the principle of openness. According to him, this meeting proved the difference between the leadership of the KPK for the 2019-2023 period chaired by Firli Bahuri and the leadership in the previous period.

Bambang said that the leadership of the KPK in the previous period strongly opposed the closed meetings like the one the KPK had a few days ago. This meeting, he continued, also raised many accusations and questions from the public. Including regarding the Firli Bahuri era KPK which is so close to current power.

As a former KPK leader, he also asked the KPK leadership to no longer need to do things that he thought were joking. "Because this will further erode public trust in the KPK," he said.

"Being aware of and being aware of the heavy mandate that the KPK leadership must bear is much more meaningful for the efforts to eradicate corruption," he added.

The hearing between Commission III DPR RI is indeed unusual. If generally the meeting was held in the DPR RI Commission III Meeting Room, this time the meeting was held at the KPK office.

Chairman of Commission III DPR RI said that this meeting was actually normal, even though this was the first time it was held. He also ensured that this meeting did not violate the law because according to the MD3 Law, meetings outside the DPR RI Building with their partners were allowed.

"We can come to our work partners' places, like yesterday the law enforcement committee came to Bareskrim, to the prosecutor's office. I think (RDP in the KPK, red) is normal," said Chairman of Commission III of the Indonesian Parliament Herman Hery to reporters at the KPK. , Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Tuesday, July 7.

Herman also spoke about the closed meeting. According to him, this meeting had been decided by the two parties, namely the KPK and Commission III of the DPR RI to be carried out in private or could not be covered by the media.

The reason is that they do not want sensitive matters in the meeting to be misinterpreted by the media and create bad perceptions in the community. It's just that he did not elaborate on the sensitive issue in question.

"The current issue has been handled by each member. As chairman, we free each faction to question what they have planned," he said.

Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, Nawawi Pomolango, said that the KPK only facilitates the wishes of Commission III of the Indonesian Parliament to request a hearing to be held at the KPK Red and White House.

"We only facilitate what they want that the RDP is here and they also want to see whether these facilities are adequate, maybe like that," he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the content of the closed meeting, he admitted that Commission III had asked about a number of cases handled by the KPK. It's just that Nawawi doesn't want to explain further.

"They ask about cases and we state that we talk about the terminology of the case. If there is no case that can be covered. Regarding any cases that have gone through the investigation process, we will mention it," he explained.

The cases discussed, said Nawawi, are cases that have been announced to the public. In addition, at the meeting, the KPK also mentioned that up to June 30, 43 sprindics had been issued. It's just that, he didn't explain the details

The KPK began to submit to the executive and legislative branches

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) highlighted the meeting. ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana considered that there was no urgency or urgent interest that made the meeting to be held at the KPK's Red and White House.

"There is no urgency to hold an RDP in the KPK building," said Kurnia.

He assessed that the meeting actually made anti-graft institutions more subservient to executive and legislative powers. Apart from that, this closed meeting raised suspicion and indicated that the DPR RI wanted to hide from the public.

Whereas Commission III DPR RI should understand that the KPK must be transparent to the public. "By using the logic flow of the KPK Law, the DPR understands that this anti-graft agency is accountable to the public. So every problem that exists in the KPK, the public has the right to know," said the anti-corruption activist.

Kurnia was of the opinion that instead of holding a closed meeting at the KPK, the DPR should schedule an open hearing to discuss various irregularities in the KPK during Firli Bahuri's presidency.

"For example, the follow-up on the alleged violation of the code of ethics over the luxury helicopter controversy used by Komjen Firli Bahuri some time ago," he concluded.