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aving in to public pressure, political factions at the House of Representatives have dropped their plan to amend the 2002 Law on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which many believe was a move to weaken the country’s antigraft body.

The House factions made an about-face turn on Tuesday, leaving the Golkar Party as the only party carrying the can for a move that was initially backed by all major factions.

Democratic Party faction leader Nurhayati Ali Assegaf said that her party had initially supported the amendment, believing it would protect and strengthen the KPK.

“But because the public believes the amendment will weaken the KPK, we will certainly revoke our decision. We will send a letter to the House leadership today to let them know about our change in position,” Nurhayati said on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a House plenary session.

Tjatur Sapto Edy of the National Awakening Party (PAN) had earlier said that the party was opposed to any amendment if it was meant to weaken the KPK.

Chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction, Hidayat Nur Wahid, said his party would never accede to a plan to weaken the KPK.

“We never had any intention to approve an initiative on amending the KPK law,” Hidayat said.

Golkar lawmaker Nudirman Munir said that an amendment was possible only if it empowered the KPK. “We approve an amendment because we believe it will strengthen the commission’s authority,” he said.

The PKS, PAN, Golkar and Democratic Party are among a number of factions that earlier formally endorsed amending the KPK law. Others included the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and the United Development Party (PPP).

The factions’ collective U-turn has put Golkar in a difficult position, as its politician Aziz Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission III overseeing laws and human rights, had signed a letter sent to the House’s Legislation Body (Baleg) on July 3, informing the body that the commission had agreed to revise the Law on the KPK.

Azis’ role in the planned amendment led many to speculate that Golkar was behind the move in order to undermine the KPK.

The State Secretariat released new data last week showing that Golkar was the most corrupt of all the country’s political parties. The data stated that of 131 individuals investigated for their alleged roles in graft cases, 64 officials, or 36.36 percent, were Golkar members.

Azis, however, defended the move as being a collective decision.

“The decision was made during an official meeting at Commission III. We would not have sent a letter to Baleg unless it had been agreed on by all the commission members,” Aziz told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on Tuesday.

An early draft for the amended law shows that the KPK would indeed be a weakened institution if the House were to approve the revision.

According to the draft, the House proposed the scrapping of articles 51 and 52, which give sole authority to the KPK to prosecute corruption cases. The House also sought to strip the commission of its wiretapping privilege. In the draft amendment, the House proposes that the KPK would require approval from court judges on a case-by-case basis in order to exercise this privilege.

Separately, KPK deputy chairman Busyro Muqoddas lashed out at the lawmakers for their amendment plan.

“I don’t believe that they [the House of Representatives] want to amend the KPK law to strengthen the commission; I don’t believe it at all. We have never been invited to present our opinion on the plan,” he said

Busyro said the planned KPK law amendment would only serve to further damage the House’s credibility and that it had been made purely for political maneuvering ahead of the 2014 general elections.

“I believe talk of revising the anticorruption law is nothing more than a political game to attract public attention to see who can defend the KPK the hardest,” he said.