Ahead Of The Dismissal Of Novel Baswedan And Colleagues, Febri Diansyah: The President Should Not Let Go

Anti-corruption activist Febri Diansyah (Photo: wardhany Tsa Tsia/VOI)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is deemed not to have let go of the polemic of the National Insight Test Assessment (TWK) which resulted in the dismissal of Novel Baswedan and 56 employees of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Moreover, tens of these employees will be dismissed at the end of September.

Former KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said that President Jokowi should not get rid of this problem. He even said that the former Governor of DKI Jakarta had the responsibility to appoint Novel Baswedan and colleagues.

"Can the President give up his hands or get rid of this TWK problem? Of course, he shouldn't," he was quoted as saying through his Twitter account @febridiansyah on Tuesday, September 28.

According to Febri, Jokowi as the highest leader of the institution has the responsibility to resolve the polemic related to the TWK. He also said that the president's intervention does not mean that the KPK has intervened as an independent institution.

"Does the President appoint 56 KPK employees to become ASN in the KPK, does it mean that the President intervenes with the KPK as an independent institution? No. There are 2 reasons: 1. The independence of the KPK is in carrying out its duties and authorities. There are 6 duties of the KPK (Article 6), not including staffing, "explained this anti-corruption activist.

"The president is the holder of the highest authority for the development of civil servants. As soon as the KPK enters the executive branch of power, then a number of regulations regarding personnel and civil servants are bound, except for those specifically regulated," added Febri.

On this basis, he asked President Jokowi to intervene to resolve this issue. Moreover, in the process of changing employee status to State Civil Apparatus (ASN) carried out through the TWK assessment, maladministration and rights violations have occurred.

"So, if there is a reason for the independence of the KPK so that the President cannot intervene in the appointment of KPK employees, please read Articles 3 & 6 of the KPK Law and Article 3 of PP 17 of 2020. Even regarding the management of civil servants, the authority at the KPK is not the leadership, but the secretary-general. the delegation of Dr. President," said Febri.

"More than that, the most important thing is the fact that the dismissal of KPK employees was carried out by means of TWK which violated the law and violated 11 types of human rights. More than the technical aspects of the law, actually the moral responsibility and leadership currently rest on the shoulders of the President, " he added.

It was previously reported that 57 KPK employees were dismissed because they did not qualify as ASN according to the mandate of the KPK Law Number 19 of 2019. The employees included senior KPK investigators Novel Baswedan and Ambarita Damanik, Chairman of the KPK Employee Forum Yudi Purnomo, KPK investigator Harun Al-Rasyid, and dozens of other names.

The anti-corruption commission argued that their inability to become ASN was not due to laws and regulations such as Perkom KPK Number 1 of 2021 but because of the results of their TWK assessment. Not only that, but the KPK also ensures that employees have been given the same opportunity even though they have passed the age limit or have stopped being ASN.

However, the decision caused a polemic given the discovery of a number of maladministration and abuse of authority in the TWK process by the Indonesian Ombudsman. Not only that, Komnas HAM also found violations of 11 employees' rights.

Thus, this is a polemic because the KPK and the State Civil Service Agency (BKN) do not want to follow up on corrective actions or recommendations issued by the Indonesian Ombudsman and Komnas HAM, respectively.

In addition, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has also remained silent on the recommendations given by the two institutions and argued that he did not want to be withdrawn in institutional matters.