R

eligious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, a United Development Party (PPP) politician, pledged on Monday to partner with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to restore trust in his graft-tainted ministry.

Lukman was officially sworn in as the new religious affairs minister on Monday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace.

After the ceremony, Lukman promised to meet with the KPK about the haj graft case, which implicated his predecessor Suryadharma Ali, another PPP politician.

Lukman said that he would discuss the haj quota, which had been allegedly misused by officials at the ministry to give their families or colleagues a free trip to the Holy Land.

'€œThis is a dilemma because haj seats, which are left unused by prospective pilgrims due to death or illness, are assigned at the discretion of the minister. Sometimes unused seats are given by the minister to institutions, government agencies or members of the media and this has created a problem.'€

Suryadharma is charged with corruption for allegedly using haj quotas to fly dozens of people '€” reportedly his relatives, colleagues from the ministry and members of the House of Representatives '€” whose names were falsely registered as Indonesian Haj Organizing Committee (PPHI) representatives, to join him on a haj pilgrimage.

The KPK welcomed Lukman'€™s intention to involve it in his efforts to reform the ministry, which has long been known as one of the most corrupt.

'€œWe have given the ministry several recommendations about what it should do to minimize corrupt practices in the haj program. We urge [the new minister] to seriously look at the recommendations to same problems reoccurring,'€ KPK deputy chairman Zulkarnain said on Monday.

The inauguration of Lukman, who previously served as deputy speaker of the People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR), has been criticized by antigraft activists who said that the appointment of Lukman by Yudhoyono goes against calls for an accountable government.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Firdaus Ilyas said that Yudhoyono could have picked a more credible figure, especially as the government'€™s term will expire in five months.

'€œI think the President was honoring a political deal he made with the PPP when they joined his administration following his 2009 re-election. His decision has angered the public, which was expecting reform,'€ Firdaus said.

Suryadharma is not the first religious affairs minister implicated in a graft case.

Said Agil Al Munawar, who served as minister during 2001-2004, was sentenced to five years in February 2006 after being implicated in the embezzlement of a Rp 652 billion (US$55.35 million) haj fund during his four year tenure.

In 2008, ICW reported Suryadharma'€™s predecessor Maftuh Basyuni, who served from 2004-2009, for his alleged role in shady deals related to the Ummah Trust Fund (DAU). Maftuh and members of the House are alleged to have used the fund as a personal piggy bank.

This most recent haj graft case comes after the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Ahmad Jauhari, former director of sharia guidance at the directorate general for Islamic guidance, to eight years in prison in April 2014 for his role in the corrupt procurement of Korans worth Rp 75 billion in 2011 and 2012.