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KPK to upload graft trial videos on YouTube
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki âAhokâ Tjahaja Purnamaâs policy of uploading videos of his budget meetings and the work of his subordinates on YouTube has inspired the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to do the same with videos of graft trials at the Jakarta Corruption Court
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akarta Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama's policy of uploading videos of his budget meetings and the work of his subordinates on YouTube has inspired the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to do the same with videos of graft trials at the Jakarta Corruption Court.
As with the impact of Ahok's move, the KPK hopes that following suit will have a deterrent effect on embezzlers in they would not want to be humiliated worldwide.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said on Sunday that the antigraft body was discussing the technicalities of the plan with the Supreme Court, adding that after any court hearing, KPK officers would soon upload videos of it.
'It's for the sake of transparency so the public knows the progress of graft cases tried at the Jakarta Corruption Court. If the plan materializes, the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission could also watch how judges handle graft cases. The most important thing is it should have a deterrent effect on graft perpetrators,' Johan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The YouTube broadcast of Ahok's budget meeting with public works agency officials was viewed more than 1.3 million times in 2012.
Ahok's move has fueled polemic about its importance and relevance in building a new Jakarta, with regard to both the meeting itself and the broadcast of the meeting.
Many argued that the broadcast was nothing more than the unnecessary public humiliation of officials. At the same time, many Jakartans hoped that the YouTube video revealed a new reality in the era of multi-media and Internet technology, with secrecy, collusion, cronyism and conspiracy having no place in the public realm.
Priharsa Nugraha, another KPK spokesman, said that the KPK would try to realize the plan as soon as possible this year. 'We hope this year the public will be able to watch graft trials on YouTube,' he added.
Priharsa said that the KPK planned to upload all proceedings of a trial, from the indictment to the reading of the final verdict, to give the public full understanding of a graft trial.
'As an initial move, we will just upload the reading of the verdict, but later we will upload everything, from the beginning of a trial to the end,' he said.
Like Ahok, Priharsa said the move was part of a plan to demonstrate that the antigraft body was transparent.
'The KPK is mandated by the law to inform the public about its handling of graft cases. Also from an academic point of view, the videos can be used as references by academics or college students who want to study corruption comprehensively,' he said.
Priharsa added that the KPK would also upload all previous trials that had taken place prior to the launch of the YouTube plan to refresh the public's memory about previous graft cases.
A political observer and anticorruption campaigner from Banten's Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University, Dahnil Anzar, applauded the KPK's move, adding that it would further strengthen people's knowledge about the anticorruption drive.
'It's a good move by the KPK, as a huge number of people access YouTube in Indonesia. Knowledge about anticorruption efforts will spread easily,' Dahnil said.
