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Profile: Who's who of candidates for antigraft agency leadership
Agus RahardjoTribunnewsAgus Rahardjo, formerly the head of the governmentâs Goods and Services Procurement Policy Agency from 2010 to 2015, spent two decades as a civil servant at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas)
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Agus Rahardjo
Tribunnews
Agus Rahardjo, formerly the head of the government's Goods and Services Procurement Policy Agency from 2010 to 2015, spent two decades as a civil servant at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).
The 59-year-old chosen by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) selection team as one of two potential candidates for the management division in the antigraft body was born in Magetan, East Java, and graduated from Sepuluh November Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1984.
He then went to Arthur D. Little School of Management ' now the Hult International Business School ' in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the US, and obtained a master's degree in management in 1991.
Agus, who claimed that he only had a total of Rp 20 million (US$1,421) in savings, emphasized the importance of utilizing technology in the government system during his interview with the KPK selection committee last week.
Brig. Gen. Basaria Panjaitan
Being one of only eight high-ranking female police generals in the history of the National Police, 58-year-old Brig. Gen. Basaria Panjaitan is no stranger to detective work.
Born in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra, she was plunged head first into the field of detective work in 1984 as part of the Bali Police's narcotics unit. She then went on to become the head of the narcotics unit at the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police and the West Java Police from 1997 to 2004.
Basaria pursued her studies throughout her career and gained a bachelor's degree in criminal law from the IBLAM Higher Education Institute of Law in 2003 and a master's degree in economic law from the University of Indonesia (UI) in 2007.
She is currently a senior lecturer at the National Police Staff and Command School (Sespim Polri) under the National Police Educational Division (Lemdikpol), which had been led by Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan before he was promoted to become the deputy chief of the National Police in April.
Her detective skills continued to be put to use as she eventually became the Riau Islands Police detective chief in 2007, before being transferred to the National Police's headquarters as one of the main investigators at the detective division's directorate V for specific crimes, which deals with cases relating to the economy, environment, health and consumer protection.
Despite her experience, serious doubts have been expressed regarding Basaria's ability to become a KPK commissioner following her interview last Monday.
At that time, Basaria said that she did not agree that the KPK should recruit investigators as they might lack experience and training.
Furthermore, she argued that 'the KPK should be prohibited from monopolizing graft cases. Since the KPK is the trigger, they should just give the investigation to the police and prosecutors when [the KPK] finds two pieces of evidence and then the KPK can coordinate the investigation'.
Miko Ginting from the Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies lambasted Basaria's statements and said that she would weaken the antigraft body if she moved forward with her ideas. 'Her statements are not in accord with the KPK Law. The KPK leads corruption eradication; it doesn't hand over cases to the National Police or the [Attorney General's Office] AGO,' he said.
'The KPK's main task is to investigate and indict. There should not be any arguments for new cases to be handed over to the police or prosecutors. A KPK commissioner candidate should seek to strengthen [the KPK], not do the opposite.'
Saut Situmorang
Fourth time is a charm for Saut Situmorang, an expert staff member at the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), who had previously failed to become a KPK leader in each of the years he had applied.
Born in Simalungan, North Sumatra, the 56-year-old previously held positions such as the director of monitoring and surveillance at BIN and secretary III at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore when Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan was the ambassador from 1999 to 2000.
Saut also boasts a master's degree in management from Krisnadwipayana University (2004) and a bachelor's degree in physics from Padjajaran University (1985).
While working at BIN, Saut was also a professor of strategic intelligence for the postgraduate program on defense studies at UI and has been touted by the KPK selection team as a potential commissioner who would excel in graft prevention.
Although he claims his passion for corruption eradication has pushed him to repeatedly apply for a commissioner position, Saut said during last Wednesday's interview with the selection committee that past corruption cases such as the notorious Bank Century and Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) cases should be forgiven.
'I would forgive what happened in the past but I would have no mercy in any future corruption from now on,' he said. 'If it has already happened and the money cannot be returned then that's that. For example, BLBI and [Bank] Century are cases that cannot be tried.'
The selection committee also questioned Saut about reports that he owned a Rubicon jeep and was facing tax problems regarding the car. Saut claimed he did not know that the car was a luxury model as his wife had bought it and he claimed that he would not need to pay tax on the car until Dec. 24.
Erwin Natosmal Oemar of the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR) said it was worrisome that Saut had strong ties to the government through Luhut and had yet to submit this year's wealth report.
Sujanarko
Sujanarko has been the KPK's director of inter-institution cooperation for almost a decade.
Prior to that, the 54-year-old obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Brawijaya in 1988, before moving on to gain his master's degree in electrical engineering from Tokai University in Tokyo. He then went on to work as the manager of PT Warsila Indonesia for a year.
Sujanarko, who had previously applied to replace former KPK commissioner Busyro Muqoddas, proposed three points during his interview with the selection committee that he claimed would help the antigraft body's goal of corruption eradication.
'My innovations include consolidating the programs with the government, following the law and politics and focusing on corruption eradication,' he said recently.
Johan Budi
During the registration process, the KPK's critics, especially lawmakers from the House of Representatives, several of whose members face prosecution in KPK graft investigations, doubted Johan Budi's ability to lead the antigraft body due to his educational background as a non-law major graduate, but he proved such assumptions wrong after his name was confirmed as one of the candidates who passed though the selection process on Tuesday.
Johan was appointed acting commissioner to conduct internal reform after a number of the KPK's commissioners and officials as well as investigators faced criminal prosecution by the National Police in February following the antigraft body's bold move to name the current deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect after a year-long investigation.
In his first two years at the KPK, he worked in the public relations division before being officially appointed as KPK spokesman in 2007. In October 2014, KPK leaders promoted him to deputy of the prevention unit, three months before President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo appointed him acting commissioner.
Alexander Marwata
Alexander Marwata, 48, now serves as an ad hoc judge at the Jakarta Corruption Court, a position that he has held since 2012. During his time as an ad hoc judge he has earned notoriety for giving several dissenting opinions in a number of guilty verdicts issued by the panel of judges in graft cases at the court.
Despite the court's decision, as approved by three other judges, to hand down a life sentence for former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar for bribery and money-laundering offences, Alexander dissented from the verdict by saying that KPK prosecutors had no authority to prosecute money-laundering cases.
'The defendant cannot be found guilty based on the fifth and sixth indictments with regard to the money-laundering charges,' Alexander said in his dissenting opinion on Akil's guilty verdict in July 2014.
In addition, he also dissented in the guilty verdict on former Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah in which he claimed that the country's first female governor, who has since been jailed, should have been cleared of all the KPK prosecutors' primary and secondary indictments. Alexander insisted that no evidence presented during Atut's trial could confirm her guilt in her graft case.
In July this year, Alexander once again made headlines when he claimed that PT Soegih Interjaya director Willy Sebastian Liem did not bribe state oil and gas firm Pertamina's former director, Suroso Atmo Martoyo, to win a US$4 million government contract in 2004 despite four other judges stating otherwise.
Despite his controversial decisions, the team tasked with selecting KPK commissioner candidates has defended its choice of Alexander by saying that based on the team's examination Alexander was a 'clean' judge.
Laode Muhammad Syarif
Laode Muhammad Syarif has been teaching at the School of Law at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi, since 1992. Fifty-year-old Laode currently also serves as senior advisor on justice and environmental governance at the Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan). He has held the position since 2008.
In addition to his domestic achievements in the field of law, Laode also gained an international reputation as an environmental law trainer at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, the Philippines, in 2015.
He earned his master's degree from Queensland University of Technology in the field of international environmental law, in Brisbane, Australia, in 2001. He received his doctoral degree in international environmental law from the University of Sydney in 2008. His bachelor's degree in international law was earned at Hasanuddin University in 1991.
Surya Tjandra
Surya Tjandra is known for his campaigns in the field of law given his former position as deputy director for general affairs at the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) between 2000 and 2001. In addition, he also served as deputy director for operations at the foundation from 2002 to 2003. Currently, he is a practicing lawyer and director of the Trade Union Rights Center.
'With regard to Surya Tjandra, he is known for his track record as an activist and lecturer who provided legal assistance to workers in the country. We have not heard any bad reviews of his background so far,' Miko Susanto Ginting from the Center of Indonesian Legal and Policies Studies (PSHKI) said.
Surya received his bachelor's degree in law from UI (1995), while in 2011 he graduated from the University of Warwick with a master's degree in the field of law.
