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Experts urge Samad not to run for vice president
A researcher from the Anticorruption Study Center (Pukat) at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, Hifdzil Alim, says Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad should reject an offer to run for vice president as such an offer was just political maneuvering on the part of the party concerned
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researcher from the Anticorruption Study Center (Pukat) at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, Hifdzil Alim, says Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad should reject an offer to run for vice president as such an offer was just political maneuvering on the part of the party concerned.
He said the party made the offer in an attempt to come across as a clean party that was against corruption.
'Pukat hopes that Abraham Samad will not be lulled by the party's sweet talk,' said Hifdzil on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.
He said his position as the KPK chairman was much more prestigious than that of a vice president. 'As the KPK chairman, he can summon a president for questioning,' said Hifdzil.
He was commenting the presence of Samad's name on a short list of running mates for Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, the presidential candidate for Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the upcoming presidential election.
Similarly, Ade Irawan of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said Samad must firmly reject the offer. If he did not respond to the offer, people's faith in the KPK could be compromised, he added.
'Don't just stand still or respond with ambiguous statements,' Ade said.
He said accepting the offer could lead to a conflict of interests for Samad because many members of political parties had been targeted in corruption cases handled by the KPK.
Both Hifdzil and Ade said that if Samad did want to run for vice president, he should immediately resign from his position as KPK chairman. Moreover, the commission's leadership was collective collegial in nature.
'It would be no problem if he resigned. There are four other members that could carry out the tasks of the commission,' said Hifdzil. (idb/ebf)
