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awmakers have made a fresh attempt at weakening the authority of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in its plan to amend Law No. 30/2002 regulating the antigraft body.

The House'€™s legislative body kicked off the discussion on the amendment on Tuesday following the failure of the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the first initiator of the amendment, to submit a draft bill after President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo rejected the plan.

In Tuesday'€™s meeting, the House decided to adopt the draft first proposed by the government and proceeded with discussion of its details.

'€œThe government initiated the draft, we have to understand this. We will discuss what needs to be discussed from it during the deliberation process,'€ said Golkar Party lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun, a former graft convict, who was among the supporters of the amendment.

In the current draft, there are at least 17 stipulations that, if passed, will not only weaken the KPK'€™s prosecution authority in corruption cases but will also limit the tenure of the antigraft body to only 12 years from the enactment of the law.

The draft bill also stipulates other provisions that would diminish the agency'€™s power and autonomy.

Among the contentious articles is Article 14, which requires the KPK to secure consent from the head of the respective district court to wiretap individuals allegedly committing graft.

Additionally, the bill mandates the establishment of an executive body and an ad hoc honorary body assigned to supervise the work of the antigraft body.

Articles 22 through 27 provide details of the assignment of the executive body, which would place its members under the oversight of the president.

According to Article 25, the president would be able to recruit individuals from outside the KPK for the executive body. '€œMembers of the executive body could come from the KPK, the National Police, the Attorney General'€™s Office [AGO], the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] and the Communication and Information Ministry.'€

Meanwhile, Article 39 mandates the establishment of an ad hoc honorary body to '€œexamine abuse of authority committed by KPK commissioners and staff members'€.

'€œAn honorary body holds the authority to punish and dismiss commissioners and staff members over abuses of authority,'€ the article says.

To further diminish the KPK'€™s authority, the draft bill also requires the KPK to let go of cases worth less than Rp 50 billion (US$3.5 million) with Article 13 of the bill requiring the KPK to hand those cases over to the National Police or the AGO.

Proponents of the amendment defended the plan, saying that the initiative was in fact designed to allow the antigraft body to work more efficiently.

'€œThe amendment is first and foremost meant to prevent abuse of power by the KPK. This has been on the agenda for some time,'€ said lawmaker Benny K. Harman, who is deputy chairman of the House of Representatives'€™ Commission III, which supervises the KPK and other law enforcement institutions, including the National Police and the AGO.

The majority of lawmakers from the ten political factions at the House have endorsed the plan. However, the amendment proposal was formally initiated by lawmakers from only six political parties: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Hanura Party.

KPK chairman Taufiequrachman Ruki said on Wednesday that the House'€™s plan to limit the tenure of the KPK to only 12 years contradicted Article 2 of the People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) regulation that mandates the antigraft body to target past and future corruption cases without a time limit.

'€œWe maintain a 100 percent conviction rate with the current integrated investigation and prosecution powers that have been in effect for the 12 years since the KPK'€™s establishment. Also, the Constitutional Court in 2003 ordered the KPK to continue its work because it was already based on the country'€™s Constitution,'€ he said.
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