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everal lawmakers supported a clause in the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) bill that would make it harder for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to conduct wiretapping.

The bill would require KPK investigators to secure a warrant from a judge before it could tap the telephone conversations of people suspected of corruption.

“The KPK is no angel. With such a great power, it [could grow] corrupt just like any other institution. It is important to limit its power to wiretap to prevent abuse,” Achmad Dimyati Natakusumah, a lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP), said on Friday.

Dimyati claimed that such a move did not aim to weaken the KPK, which in many investigations relied on its power to tap graft suspects.

Al Muzamil Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) concurred with Dimyati, saying that the KPK was not immune to abuses of power.

“That is why we need to oversee the KPK’s authority, for instance, by urging it to secure a court order for wiretapping,” Muzamil said. “Limiting its power will prohibit the KPK from making mistakes, such as when it leaked a confidential document on the naming of former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum as a graft suspect,” he added.

Antigraft activists and the KPK expressed the opinion that the KUHAP bill could be used to tame the antigraft agency, now considered as the cleanest institution in the nation’s campaign against corruption.

Article 83 of the draft bill stipulates that law enforcers are allowed to conduct wiretapping while investigating certain crimes, but they must obtain warrants from their superiors and a judge. A judge has the authority to issue a 30 day wiretapping order that could be extended for a maximum of 30 days.

KPK deputy chief Busyro Muqoddas said on Friday that the commission had sent a letter to the government that requested the withdrawal of the controversial draft bill. He criticized the Law and Human Rights Ministry for drafting the bill without asking the commission for input when certain articles within the bill would affect the KPK.

“We hope that they will withdraw the draft,” Busyro said.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana said that the KPK would be exempt from the KUHAP as it had its own authorizing law, but several legal experts and lawmakers said that the KPK might have to abide by the KUHAP. Denny has said that if it would undermine the commission the government would be ready to withdraw the bill.

The KPK has often used wiretaps as evidence in their investigations and prosecutions, the power has long been the subject of controversy and lawmakers have on several occasions attempted to strip it of that power by proposing a revision to the 2002 KPK Law.

The proposed revision included a provision that would end the KPK’s prosecution authority, sparking protest from antigraft watchdogs, who accused the lawmakers of trying to tame the KPK, which has arrested and charged many of their fellow lawmakers.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected the House’s proposal last year.

“We hope that the government and the House use their logic and see that judicial corruption still remains,” said Busyro.