Public trust in KPK falls to 41.6 percent: Survey

Public disappointment in the handling of corruption cases was cited as a factor behind the waning popularity of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), whose approval rating is now less than 50 percent, a survey by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) showed.

“The level of public trust to the KPK is at 41.6 percent, down from 58.3 percent in a similar survey in October 2005,” LSI researcher Adjie Alfarabyya was quoted as saying Sunday by news portal tempointeraktif.com.

“The findings show that most people do not trust the KPK. This fact can’t be ignored.”

Adjie cited four main reasons for the decreased falling approval rating.

“People feel the KPK is selective about eradicating corruption, especially in the bribery case surrounding a Southeast Asian [SEA] Games construction project. They believe the KPK is not going after the powerful people behind the bribery,” he said.

The SEA Games case drew public attention after one of the suspects in the case and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin fled the country and made public allegations that KPK leaders and top Democratic Party leaders were also implicated in the case.

Adjie said the KPK’s unwillingness to handle the Bank Century bailout case and the bribery case in the election of a Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor in 2004 also hurt its image.

One final reason was that people felt the KPK was not as gung ho as before, he added.

“People feel the KPK has become more cautious in its approach to eradicating corruption after its leaders were implicated in several cases,” Adjie said.

The LSI survey was carried in June and polled 1,200 respondents.