Observers expressed worry on Tuesday that the lack of credible figures on the list of candidates for the chairmanship of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) could mean the decline of the antigraft body.
As of Tuesday, scores of people were vying for the single vacant seat at the commission widely seen as the most credible law enforcement agency. Teten Masduki, the secretary-general of Transparency International Indonesia (TII), said he had yet to see promising figures registering with the selection committee for the KPK chairmanship.
“I think the committee should headhunt for credible figures instead of waiting for them to come and register, otherwise, they might end up with listing people with questionable reputations,” he said.
More than 60 people have applied to compete for the post. Many of them are lawyers, including some who have defended graft suspects. Among the lawyers listed are Farhat Abbas, previously a lawyer for graft suspect Muhtadi Asnun, a judge who acquitted tax officer Gayus Tambunan from corruption charges and OC Kaligis, a lawyer for Anggodo Widjojo and a number of convicted graft suspects, including businesswoman Artalyta Suryani.
Another lawyer of Anggodo’s, Bonaran Situmeang, said Tuesday he would also participate. Then there is Alamsyah Hanafiah, who defended a former state power firm PT PLN official Hariadi Sadono who was a suspect in a Rp 80 billion (US$864,000) graft case.
From the Police Force, former Bali Police chief, Insp. Gen. Budi Setiawan, has also enrolled in the list.
“Lawyers are not suitable for the position and neither are police officers and prosecutors,” Teten said.
According to Teten, lawyers tend to have conflicts of interests. “And that’s potentially destructive for the KPK,” he said.
“Police officers and prosecutors were also not eligible to serve as the boss of the KPK, he said, because they had lost the people’s trust.
“Remember that the KPK was established to compensate for the poor performance of the police and prosecutors in handling graft cases,” he said.
Teten said he hoped that the remaining two weeks before the registration of candidates closed would give time for persons with integrity to enroll.
A member of the selection committee, lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, shared Teten’s opinion.
“The criteria for a successful candidate is courage, decisiveness, and a convincing track record. If no applicants meet these criteria, we’d better approve nobody and let the KPK be led by four people as it is now,” he said.
Todung added four leaders were enough to run the anti-graft body until their tenure ended in 2011.
Echoing Todung’s opinion, M. Jasin, a KPK deputy chairman, suggested the selection for the chairmanship should be done in 2011. “The selection committee should not have been established to choose only one leader. It would be better if the committee were to select five KPK leaders all together,” he said.
The successful candidate will step into the shoes of Antasari Azhar, who was dismissed in April 2009 after he was declared a murder suspect and subsequently convicted of the murder of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen. (ipa/rdf)
