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Besieged, beaten, KPK punching below its weight
Since its inception in 2003, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has endured a series of attempts to erode its power and deter future graft crackdowns following its successful prosecution of corrupt officials, judges, generals, businessmen and politicians
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ince its inception in 2003, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has endured a series of attempts to erode its power and deter future graft crackdowns following its successful prosecution of corrupt officials, judges, generals, businessmen and politicians.
But nothing compares to the overwhelming effort currently being made by police to criminalize the commission's leaders and investigators under the very nose of newly elected President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo ' a clean figure who won the presidency partly for his campaign to establish a clean government.
The KPK has already lost its chairman, Abraham Samad, and a commissioner, Bambang Widjojanto, both of whom resigned after the police named them suspects in separate cases many say were engineered by police.
Around 21 investigators assigned by the police to the commission will be named suspects by the National Police for their inability to renew their gun licenses.
The commission's highly decorated investigator, Comr. Novel Baswedan, also faces the possibility of detention in connection with an alleged murder case when serving in the police.
Attacks against the KPK came after the agency named National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, a confidant of Jokowi's patron and chairwoman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, a graft suspect.
While President Jokowi has issued a decision ending a month-long dispute between the KPK and the graft-ridden National Police, the move has apparently put the agency at a disadvantage.
Jokowi rescinded Budi's nomination, issued a decree to accept the resignations of Abraham and Bambang due to their suspect-status and appointed two questionable figures to replace them.
Taufiequrachman Ruki, a retired police general and the KPK's first chairman, as well as lawyer Indriyanto Seno Adji, who has represented a number of graft suspects ' were appointed last week as the commission's acting leaders.
But given their backgrounds, concerns are rife that the KPK is being forced into compromising with the police.
'I'm very concerned about the current situation because there seems to be some kind of effort to defeat or minimize the KPK,' former commissioner of Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Tony Kwok said recently.
After acting KPK chairman Taufiequrachman blamed the police's moves against the KPK on Abraham last Wednesday, such concerns seemed at least partly founded.
'It is because [Abraham] did not do things the right way,' said Taufiequrachman, who shied away from prosecuting police officers during his tenure as KPK chairman between 2003 and 2007.
The KPK, under third-generation leader Abraham, is widely celebrated for its unprecedented and aggressive clampdown on corruption as compared to previous KPK leaders.
Established in December 2003, the KPK was formed under the administration of then president Megawati. The move was made in accordance with a law passed in 2002 on the establishment of the KPK as an ad-hoc agency with authority to root out high-profile corruption.
The law authorizes the KPK to wiretap and record telephone conversations, prevent a person from traveling abroad and request banks and other financial institutions to reveal necessary financial information in order to support open investigations.
Unlike the police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the KPK is exempt from a requirement to seek approval from the President before investigating lawmakers or other high-ranking government officials.
The KPK, collectively run by five commissioners serving four-year-terms, only investigates and prosecutes cases that have triggered potential state losses of at least Rp 1 billion (US$77,640).
Equipped with such broad authority, it did not take long for the KPK to become a leading law-enforcement agency in the much-needed fight against corruption.
With a nearly perfect prosecution success rate, where almost all suspects have been found guilty in court, the KPK earned much-needed public trust and support, but made many enemies.
It was not until the second generation of KPK leaders under former prosecutor Antasari Azhar that efforts were taken to impair the commission after its successful netting of powerful politicians and police generals.
In October 2008, Antasari named former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son, a graft suspect.
The court sentenced Aulia to four-and-a-half years in prison for his role in approving an illegal disbursement of BI funds.
However, less than a year later, Antasari was dismissed as KPK chief after the Jakarta Police named him a suspect in the murder of state company executive Nasruddin Zulkarnaen. In 2010, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Antasari's arrest and conviction did not deter other leaders in his generation from aggressively clamping down on high-profile corruption.
In September 2009, efforts to undermine the commission continued when the police declared KPK deputies Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto suspects for abusing their power for imposing a travel ban on Anggoro Widjojo, who had previously been declared a suspect by the KPK for bribing legislators to secure a project with the Forestry Ministry.
The dispute between the police and the KPK was later dubbed 'Gecko vs Crocodile' ' 'gecko' referring to the KPK and 'crocodile' to the police, which is a much older, larger institution.
Attacks by the police stemmed from the KPK's wiretapping of National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who at the time was widely expected to become the next police chief.
The tapping of Susno's cell phone revealed a conversation where he demanded Rp 10 billion in fees from Boedi Sampoerna to clear the businessman's savings, which were stuck in the troubled Bank Century.
Yudhoyono stepped in to resolve the case by stopping the prosecutions against Bibit and Chandra. However, following the settlement, the KPK emerged bruised and battered, seemingly reluctant to go after the big fish.
During the tenure of the third iteration of leaders headed by Abraham Samad, the KPK made an unprecedented effort to prosecute more high-profile figures.
Three serving ministers ' former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng, former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali and former energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik ' were named suspects between 2013 and 2014, severely tarnishing Yudhoyono's administration in its second and final tenure.
Many of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party leaders also ended up in jail as a result of cases investigated by the KPK.
The KPK found itself in another showdown against the police after declaring head of the police's traffic directorate, Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, a suspect.
After several hours of questioning at KPK headquarters in South Jakarta, dozens of officers from the Bengkulu and Jakarta Police surrounded the KPK building in an attempt to arrest Comr. Novel Baswedan, a leading investigator from the police assigned to work with the KPK.
After hundreds of civilians and activists flocked the KPK headquarters to defend Novel, the police canceled the arrest plan.
The police alleged Novel was responsible for the shooting of six robbery suspects in 2004 when he served as Bengkulu Police chief detective.
After the case was considered closed in 2012, the National Police summoned Novel for questioning this week in connection his role in the case. Novel has refused to attend for questioning.
As attempts to criminalize KPK leaders continue, many are convinced that attacks against the commission from the National Police, which were launched in lockstep with the PDI-P, were designed to prevent the KPK from ramping up its investigation into the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) scandal that could implicate Megawati, who served as the nation's president between 2001 and 2004.
'The BLBI case implicates a number of people, including a high-ranking figure in a political party. If the KPK is weak then it will not be able to finish the investigation,' said Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Emerson Yuntho.
'There is a systematic attack to prevent the KPK from stepping-up its investigation into [what is a] bigger scandal,' he said.
