J

strong>Jan. 26, Online

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto submitted his resignation on Monday following his naming as a suspect in a case related to a regional election dispute case in Waringin Barat, Central Kalimantan.

'€œShortly after I arrived at my office this morning, I wrote a letter tendering my temporary resignation as KPK deputy chairman,'€ he said as quoted by Antara news agency at the anti-graft body headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.

Your comments:

In some countries (Singapore for example), resignations can sometimes be rejected if the person resigning works for what'€™s called '€œessential services'€.

This is for '€œsecurity reasons'€ but, of course, it can be interpreted in many different ways and can even be used to suppress descent and opposition. How '€œtemporary'€ resignation works is something entirely new to me and I'€™ve never heard of such a thing in all my years and travels. Perhaps it'€™s unique to Indonesia.

Pauloh

All I can say is that I wish there were more like Bambang Widjojanto, both honorable and decent as well as patriotic, and I sincerely look forward to him resuming his critical position once cleared of any wrong-doing.

What a huge difference we would see in this country if we only had a half as honorable political and social elite similarly willing to put Indonesia and its citizens before their own largely corrupt and power-hungry selves.

While President Jokowi keeps stalling for time, corruption eradication becomes more hamstrung, the law enforcement system becomes more brazenly corrupt and our de facto president keeps stirring away at her poisonous and bubbling witches cauldron in rapturous glee.

What better way to deflect attention and investigation from oneself than by manipulating a flunky into the most senior police position, smearing senior anticorruption officials with convoluted accusations (and photoshop manipulations) and attempting to all but castrate the duly elected people'€™s president?  

May Ling

Indonesia is becoming like Mexico. There will be none left willing to take on such dangerous jobs.

JLC

Not long before the people rise up on the streets.  They will because if the police win this battle then the House of Representatives will know the KPK can be crushed and they will be completely unaccountable '€” returning Indonesia to despotic rule.

The people know this and will not accept it.  It is make or break. Alas, Jokowi is clearly a puppet and too weak to resolve this.  

So it will fall to the people.

Like it or not, I think we'€™re looking at revolt.

Atom

There is only one reason why he has submitted his resignation: he has no support from the President.

Rojak

I for one am getting pretty sick of the endless corruption cases coming out of Indonesia.

There are now more than 2,000 cases on the waiting list to be investigated. Indonesia needs to ask
itself what it wants to look like in the year 2030.

Is it going to be selecting a National Police chief with Rp100 million (US$8 million) in his 19-year-old son'€™s bank accounts? Is it going to be KPK geckos being bitten by police crocodiles?

This is what happened in 2009. Fast-forward to 2015, and history is now repeating itself.

Lasem Benny