Opposition to police candidates for graft body

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 11/23/2007 11:38 AM

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Anticorruption activists are seeking to bar the inclusion of candidates with police or prosecutor backgrounds on the Corruption Eradication Commission.

""We must remember the KPK was formed due to public distrust in law enforcement officers -- police and prosecutors. Thus, we must reconsider those eligible for the KPK leadership,"" Emerson Yuntho of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said in a discussion here Tuesday.

He said incumbent KPK leaders with law enforcement backgrounds had failed to investigate corruption allegations involving high profile figures, including police officers and prosecutors.

""I suspect it must be connected to the fact some KPK leaders were former police officers and prosecutors. Thus, let's not repeat the same mistakes,"" Emerson said.

KPK chairman Taufiequrrahman Ruki is a retired police one-star general and one of his deputies, Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, was secretary to the junior attorney general for special crimes.

Five of the 10 KPK candidates come from law enforcement backgrounds; Amien Sunaryadi and Muhammad Jasin, both incumbent KPK members; Director for Prosecution at the Attorney General's Office (AGO), Antasari Azhar; Marwan Effendi, the head of the AGO's education and training center; and Bibit Samad Rianto, a retired police general.

The other five candidates are professionals from various backgrounds.

A law expert from Bandung-based Padjadjaran University, Asep Iwan Iriawan, asked legislators at the House of Representatives involved in the selection of KPK candidates to maintain transparency in selecting the candidates.

""They should publicly announce the results of the investigation ... they must replace candidates who are proven to have committed wrongdoings,"" he said.

In a related development, the House commission tasked to examine the KPK candidates said it would require the 10 candidates to present their views on certain issues, the topics of which would only be given an hour before a candidate presented his or her views before the commission members.

""We will ask them to not only present their visions and missions, but also prove their competence,"" Chairman of the House's law commission, Trimedya Panjaitan, said.

He said his commission could not rely on the candidate profiles prepared by the government-backed selection team because the selection process was financed by the state budget and the Partnership, a local nongovernmental organization supported by foreign countries. (dic)

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