T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has accused a number of lawmakers who had been put under its surveillance program of hijacking the House of Representatives'€™ legislative program by proposing an amendment to the 2002 KPK Law that could weaken the antigraft body.

Acting KPK deputy chairman Indriyanto Seno Adji said on Friday that the voices calling the loudest for the revision belonged to members who had been put under surveillance as part of graft investigations.

'€œI'€™m not entirely sure why these elements are so keen to revise the KPK law, especially the KPK'€™s wiretapping authority. They may be worried about becoming victims of future KPK sting operations,'€ said Indriyanto, who is also a prominent legal expert.

One of the key provisions that the House plans to amend is the commission'€™s authority to conduct surveillance or wiretapping during the preliminary phase of investigations. Without that authority, the KPK would be prevented from launching sting operations aimed at catching suspects red-handed accepting bribes.

The KPK has so far arrested scores of lawmakers in such operations, including Indonesian Democratic Party Politician (PDI-P) politician Ardiansyah, Chairun Nisa of the Golkar Party and former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

In addition, a number of lawmakers are implicated in KPK investigations, if only as witnesses for now, including Bambang Soesatyo and Aziz Syamsuddin of the Golkar Party, who serve, respectively, as a member and as chairman of House Commission III on legal affairs, which is overseeing the revision plan. Another staunch supporter of the amendment is Fahri Hamzah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a House deputy speaker.

Fahri has made frequent attacks on the KPK, especially after the antigraft body arrested Luthfi in 2013.

Other House lawmakers summoned by the KPK include PDI-P treasurer Olly Dondokambey and Golkar members Zainuddin Amali and House speaker Setya Novanto.

There was no just reason to scrap the KPK'€™s wiretapping authority, Indriyanto said, as since its establishment in 2004, the privilege had been strictly monitored and evaluated by the Communication and Information Ministry.

The KPK had been unfairly targeted, he added, as other law enforcement agencies had the same authority.

'€œThe 1999 law on corruption stipulates that all law enforcement agencies have the authority to wiretap,'€ he said.

Last week, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who had earlier backed the House'€™s projected revision, publicly decried the plan as '€œunnecessary'€.

Leaders of the House of Representatives professed bafflement at the President'€™s vacilitating.

Fahri, for one, blasted Jokowi for what he called a '€œface-saving maneuver'€.

'€œThe demand to revise the KPK Law has come from all sides, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government. Even the KPK'€™s leaders have spoken out about this.'€ Fahri told reporters at the House compound in Jakarta on Friday.

'€œNow that there'€™s a window of opportunity to apply these changes, [the government] has decided to alter its stance.'€

Fahri further blamed the government for the crisis engulfing the KPK.

'€œThis cowardliness must stop [...] How else to explain that, throughout the 13 years since the KPK Law was passed, all [KPK] leaders have been arrested for causing trouble?'€ he said.

Meanwhile, House deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan said that the House would wait for an official letter from Jokowi explaining his stance.

'€œWe'€™ll see if the [request to withdraw the revision] can be brought up in the next plenary session and what the government will substitute it with,'€ Taufik said.

Despite Jokowi'€™s about-face, a House plenary session earlier this week decided to include the revision of the KPK Law in its 2015 priority legislation list.