Jokowi's Search For A KPK Supervisory Board Position

KPK Red and White Building (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo continues to look for the right person to sit on the Supervisory Board of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). This is because the five supervisory boards will later be appointed together with the five new KPK chairmen on December 21, or less than a month.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta said that the names who would sit in crucial positions in accordance with Law 19/2019 were being reviewed by the internal team of the State Secretary (Setneg) led by Praktikno. The process has not yet entered the finalization stage because it is still listening to public input.

"Still listening to public input. Very much," said Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace, Central Jakarta, Monday, December 2.

Even though he received a lot of input, President Jokowi said that his party would not make the wrong choice in determining the KPK Supervisory Board. There are several criteria that must be met by prospective candidates, including having a good track record, having integrity, and having experience in the fields of criminal law and financial management audits.

"It's important and the process is still ongoing," said the former mayor of Solo.

Although Jokowi has several criteria to determine the KPK Supervisory Board, a political observer from Al Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin said Jokowi would not be able to be objective in the election. It is not impossible that those who sit on the KPK Supervisory Board will carry certain interests and make this anti-corruption institution prone to conflicts of interest.

He also assessed that Jokowi actually already knows and keeps the names of the figures who will fill the position. It's just that, he's currently buying time.

"The question of looking for the name of a candidate for the KPK Dewas is only a gimmick. It is only throwing discourse to the public. In fact, the names are already in Jokowi's hands," Ujang told VOI when contacted via text message, Monday, December 2.

He considered that Jokowi would repeat his nonsense as when he received the KPK leadership results from the Selection Committee chaired by Yenti Garnasih.

At that time, when Pansel submitted 10 names, Jokowi admitted that he would cross out problematic names before submitting them to the DPR. However, the names that are considered problematic and one of them is the West Sumatra Regional Police Chief who is now Head of the Armed Forces Inspector General Firli Bahuri.

Even though when he served as KPK Investigative Director, Firli is said to have met with Golkar Party politician Muhammad Zainul Majdi at an event and the politician is currently undergoing investigation regarding the PT Newmont divestment case.

As a result, Firli was returned to his unit even though recently during a fit and proper test, the police denied that any ethical code had been violated. "The Pansel team is problematic and the results are also problematic. But it is left alone (in the end). The promise to cross the KPK chairman is also nonsense," said Ujang.

Apart from that, the observer also considered that Jokowi's attitude recently often did not match his actions. So, he doubts if Jokowi can be objective in determining the KPK Supervisory Board.

"Many of Jokowi's statements are different from his actions," he said.

Not only Ujang, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Coordinator, Adnan Topan Husodo also said that the KPK was dangerous for the KPK. Because, later on, they will control all the work of the KPK and this is considered to have the potential to leak the investigation of corruption cases including wiretapping.

"The supervisory board is dangerous if it is implanted into the KPK. Even though later they will always give wiretapping permits but the potential for leakage is very high," said Adnan.

It is known that the existence of the KPK Supervisory Board is the first time in the scope of an anti-graft agency. This council will later serve as a coating for KPK leaders who are no longer serving as investigators and public prosecutors.

They are also the ones who will later sign the investigation, wiretapping and confiscation warrants, replacing the KPK leadership who used to carry out the function of investigating these corruption cases.