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ather than honoring his campaign pledge to strengthen graft prosecutions, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo told the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Monday at the State Palace to double down on preventing corruption in the fishery and plantation sectors this year.

KPK acting deputy chairman Johan Budi said the antigraft body would sign an agreement along with 29 ministries and state institutions, as well as 21 provincial administrations, to fight corruption in the natural resources sector on March 19.

'€œThe President will attend the signing and will give further directives to the 29 ministries and state institutions,'€ Johan announced after the meeting at the palace.

The Monday meeting took place just two weeks after the State Palace announced the President would issue a decree instructing all government bodies to accelerate efforts to prevent corruption because '€œministries and other government bodies are obliged to help prevent corruption'€.

Over the past decade, the KPK has tended to focus on prosecuting graft, sending dozens of former lawmakers and ministers to prison.

Antigraft activists have lambasted Jokowi'€™s directive to the KPK for diverting the antigraft body'€™s focus away from prosecuting corruption.

'€œIt is important to prevent corruption because we can save a huge amount of state money in the natural resources sector [if we can fix the system there],'€ acting KPK chairman Taufiequrachman Ruki said at the State Palace.

Johan and Ruki are two of three acting KPK leaders appointed by Jokowi to replace suspended leaders KPK chairman Abraham Samad and KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, both of whom were well-known for their aggressive prosecution efforts during their tenure, following the National Police'€™s decision to name them suspects in two separate cases.

Abraham and Bambang were named suspects after former National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan was named a bribery suspect by the KPK on Jan. 13.

In addition to his prevention efforts, Johan, who served as KPK deputy for the prevention unit before being appointed an acting KPK leader, said the antigraft body had, since 2013, been studying various ministries to see how their efforts were being compromised.

Johan said after conducting the studies, the KPK announced its findings and directed certain ministries take appropriate corrective measures. The commission now holds routine check-ups to gauge the extent to which its proposed reforms are being implemented.

As a result of the assessment and subsequent reforms, Johan added, as much as Rp 20 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in state money has been saved from corruption in the coal and mineral sector.

'€œThe difference between what we were doing back in 2014 and what we are doing now in 2015 is that this year we will expand prevention efforts to the fisheries and plantation sectors,'€ Johan added.

According to data from the KPK, studies conducted in 2014 in the fisheries sector found that more than 70 percent of some 1,444 companies operating 30-gross-ton vessels lacked tax identification numbers (NPWP).

Separately, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Ade Irawan criticized acting KPK leaders for the plan to favor an escalation of prevention rather than prosecution in the fight against corruption in the country, adding the KPK needed to continue Abraham'€™s legacy, which was to apply strong prosecution measures against corrupt officials.

'€œTheoretically, prevention and prosecution efforts should be balanced, as both are important, but at this current juncture where corruption is rampant, it is more important to emphasize prosecution,'€ Ade said.

Ade also reminded Jokowi that the KPK had been established in 2003 because the graft-ridden Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) and the National Police had failed to eradicate corruption.

'€œDon'€™t let the KPK become Corruption '€˜Prevention'€™ Commission because it is actually the Corruption '€˜Eradication'€™ Commission. It is the KPK'€™s main job to eradicate corruption, especially the corruption in the political and law-enforcement sectors,'€ Ade added.