T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has lambasted the government and House of Representatives'€™ plan to expedite the termination of terms of the antigraft body'€™s current commissioners.

The KPK said the government and House should abide by Presidential Regulation No.72/2011, issued by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which authorized the third batch of KPK leaders, including Abraham Samad, Bambang Widjojanto, Zulkarnen and Adnan Pandu Praja, to remain in their positions until December 2015.

Both Samad and Bambang have been dismissed by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, in a move that many said was a punishment for the two commissioners'€™ combative style.

Law and Human Rights Ministry Yasonna H. Laoly said that the tenure of the current commissioners, including the three acting commissioners appointed in February to replace Bambang and Samad, would expire soon and that a new batch of commissioners would be installed in September at the latest.

Yasonna said that the ministry would soon set up a committee to commence the selection of new KPK commissioners.

KPK commissioner Zulkarnaen said on Tuesday that President Jokowi and the House must honor the 2011 presidential regulation.

'€œI think the plan is amiss. The tenure of the current leaders will expire on Dec. 16, 2015,'€ Zulkarnaen told reporters at the KPK headquarters on Tuesday.

Zulkarnain said that the KPK welcomed the ministry'€™s plan to establish the selection committee, given the arduous task it would face, but the government should allow the current KPK commissioners to remain in office until December.

'€œSelection will take a while, thus, it is better to be prepared from now. The process includes establishing the selection team, screening prospective candidates before handing the names of selected candidates to the House for screening,'€ Zulkarnaen said.

Separately, Transparency International Indonesia (TII) secretary-general Dadang Trisasongko said that instead of hastily selecting new candidates, the government should first pick the right candidates for the selection team.

'€œMembers of the selection team must be individuals who are committed to strengthening the KPK,'€ Dadang said on Tuesday.

Dadang was responding to speculation that the Law and Human Rights Ministry, which is now led by Yasona, a politician with the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was considering recommending one-time graft convict and Padjajaran University law expert Romli Atmasasmita as the chairman of the selection team to Jokowi.

In a hearing for a pretrial petition filed by former National Police chief candidate Comr. Budi Gunawan, who was named a bribery suspect by the KPK in January, Romli took the witness stand only to criticise the antigraft body.

As the KPK is currently investigating the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) case, which could have links to PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri in her capacity as president between 2001 and 2004, many were concerned that the selection process could be used as a gateway to include candidates who would stop the probe if elected.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Emerson Yuntho suspected that the plan to immediately end the term of the current KPK leadership was another plot to weaken the KPK after the success in installing Taufiequrachman Ruki as KPK chairman.

Just weeks after being inaugurated by Jokowi, Ruki made a controversial decision to hand over Budi'€™s graft case to the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO), which finally transferred the investigation to the National Police.

'€œAllowing figures with dubious reputations on the selection team could water down the future KPK. We fear that this is part of a scheme to hijack KPK leadership through the installment of controversial figures to select KPK new commissioners,'€ Emerson said.