T

he Anti-Corruption Civil Society Coalition is encouraging eligible voters nationwide to not vote for regional head candidates endorsed by political parties supporting an amendment to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law in the upcoming simultaneous regional elections in December.

Coalition member Emerson Yuntho, who is a researcher with the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said that the call aimed at imposing social punishment on several political parties for their insistence on crippling the KPK'€™s authority to eradicate corruption through the revision of Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK.

'€œNames of the regional head candidates are available now and it'€™s clear which parties they come from. The public also knows which parties support and reject the plan. Some of them are still in the grey area due to their indecisiveness over the plan,'€ Emerson said.

The majority of lawmakers from the 10 political factions at the House of Representatives have endorsed the plan. However, the amendment proposal was formally initiated by lawmakers from 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.

The coalition said that if approved, the bill would effectively kill the authority of the KPK as the antigraft body would not only lose its power to prosecute but would also meet its dissolution in 12 years after the bill was passed into law.

In addition, the House also plans to grant the KPK the right to halt graft investigations despite the fact that the KPK is prohibited by its own law from doing so in order to avoid trade-off practices by its commissioners or officials.

It also instructs the KPK to keep its hands off graft cases worth less than Rp 50 billion (US$3.6 million), as Article 13 of the bill requires it to hand such cases over to the National Police or Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO).

Emerson said that if the House refused to withdraw the plan, the coalition would step up its efforts to raise public awareness of the House lawmakers supporting the bill by placing a huge banner displaying pictures of the antagonistic lawmakers at the main gate of the House building.

'€œWe will let the public judge whether their move will strengthen or weaken the KPK,'€ Emerson said, adding that the antigraft activists would also put up such banners at local councilor offices nationwide.

The coalition will meet with House lawmakers in the near future to ask them to annul the bill.

House Legislation Body (Baleg) member Hendrawan Supratikno, who is a senior politician from the PDI-P, shrugged off the threats, saying that people who opposed the bill should directly express their concerns to their respective representatives, not through antigraft activists.

'€œDid those detractors vote for political parties [during the 2014 legislative election]? Did they vote for particular legislative candidates? Then go talk to them directly,'€ Hendrawan said as quoted by kompas.com.

The government initially requested a revision to the KPK Law in June but it later withdrew its intention after drawing the same condemnation from the public. After the government withdrew its amendment proposal, the House initiated a new move to revise the law in October.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has yet to issue a statement on the House initiative but State Secretary Pratikno reportedly said that as the President had yet make an official statement, the government would maintain Jokowi'€™s earlier stance on the bill.

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