President Jokowi Asked Not To Give Up On The Fate Of Novel Baswedan Et Al Ahead Of September 30

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has been asked to act in relation to the polemic of the National Insight Test (TWK) at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which led to the dismissal of Novel Baswedan and 56 other employees.

The pressure arose from various parties and in various ways. Some held rallies and sent letters via online motorcycle taxis or electronic mail.

Through electronic mail as well as direct mail delivery by online motorcycle taxis, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) alluded to the situation of eradicating corruption in the country, especially after the dismissal of Novel Baswedan et al.

The letter signed by the ICW Coordinator Adnan Topan Husada initially alluded to the declining public trust in the KPK. This decline has caused efforts to eradicate corruption to run uncertainly and experience setbacks.

This setback and uncertainty in efforts to eradicate corruption, he said, was evidenced by the worsening of Indonesia's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2020.

The Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Institute said that Indonesia's GPA was at a score of 37 with a ranking of 102. This score was down from the previous year.

However, this decline is called ICW is the responsibility of President Jokowi. The former governor of DKI Jakarta is considered to have failed to be tough on those who interfere with the eradication of corruption.

"We observe, observe and evaluate that the turmoil of the KPK and the eradication of corruption in Indonesia occurred because the President failed to take a firm and strict attitude towards anyone who interferes with efforts to eradicate corruption," Adnan said in a letter quoted on Tuesday, September 28.

Not only failing, Jokowi is also considered to have opened an effort to weaken the KPK through the revision of the KPK Law which occurred in 2019. "In addition, the issue of the controversial election of KPK leaders cannot be separated from the participation and responsibility of the President of the Republic of Indonesia," he stressed.

President Jokowi is also considered to have run away from his responsibility to resolve the polemic of the National Insight Test Assessment (TWK) for KPK employees. According to him, the silence shown by Jokowi is the same as agreeing to the dismissal based on the arbitrariness of the anti-corruption commission leaders.

Before closing his letter, Adnan then reminded President Jokowi that he had a very big responsibility. "A serious and serious corruption eradication is part of that responsibility," he said.

He also mentioned that the country's success in fighting corruption is also based on its leaders. So, President Jokowi should be able to do introspection in carrying out his responsibilities.

"This nation should be sorry, Indonesia has been better in eradicating corruption but not today," Adnan said closing the letter.

The action to ask President Jokowi to not only remain silent regarding the TWK polemic was also voiced by the All-Indonesian Student Executive Board Alliance (BEM SI) on Monday, September 27 yesterday.

Masses of action from various universities descended on the KPK's Red and White Building after their ultimatum for Novel Baswedan et al to be appointed as State Civil Apparatus (ASN) within 3x24 hours was ignored by President Jokowi. Later, they will hold an action on September 30 if Jokowi still persists.

Actually, President Jokowi has spoken about the TWK assessment as a condition for the transfer of the employee status. He said that the responsibility for TWK that failed dozens of KPK employees to become ASN was not in his hands but in the Ministry of Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan-RB). Thus, he requested that he not be drawn into the polemic.

"Don't take anything to the President. This is a constitutional courtesy. I have to respect the ongoing legal process," he said some time ago.

The President's spokesman, Fadjroel Rachman, said the same thing. He said the President did not want to interfere in the TWK polemic because the anti-corruption commission was an independent institution.

"Although he is in the executive family, like other institutions such as Komnas HAM, KPU, they are autonomous institutions and have the right to carry out their activities according to law," Fadjroel said to reporters.

"So the President, he said, I respect politeness in the state administration. So he respects the decisions taken by the Constitutional Court and by the Supreme Court," he concluded.