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House, govt accused of hidden agenda over KPK Law revision
A show of support: A coffin emblazoned with the message âRevise the [Corruption Eradication Commission] KPK Lawâ is seen after being sent to the antigraft bodyâs headquarters in South Jakarta on Oct
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A show of support: A coffin emblazoned with the message âRevise the [Corruption Eradication Commission] KPK Lawâ is seen after being sent to the antigraft bodyâs headquarters in South Jakarta on Oct. 20. (Kompas/Ambaranie Nadia KM) (Kompas/Ambaranie Nadia KM)
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span class="inline inline-center">A show of support: A coffin emblazoned with the message 'Revise the [Corruption Eradication Commission] KPK Law' is seen after being sent to the antigraft body's headquarters in South Jakarta on Oct. 20. (Kompas/Ambaranie Nadia KM)
An expert has said that all parties must call into question the obstinacy of the House of Representatives and the government in revising Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as the revision is targeted to be completed before the end of December this year.
'If it is true that the House aims to accelerate the deliberation of the draft KPK law revision by December, it means the House and the government have a shared, hidden agreement,' a researcher from the Indonesian Parliament Watch, Lucius Karus, said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Sunday.
He said the obstinacy of the House and the government was quite strange because it seemed the only law that must be immediately revised was the 2002 KPK Law. In fact, 36 other draft laws were included in the 2015 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) but the progress of the revisions remains unknown.
'If they suddenly race to deliberate the draft KPK Law revision while ignoring 36 other draft laws included in the Prolegnas, it means that the House and the government have unilateral interests that they have attempted to conceal from the public,' said Lucius.
The researcher further explained that the public rejection of an ongoing discourse on the draft revision had been quite strong. Thus, if the House and the government kept pushing the completion of the KPK Law revision by the end of this year, it would not be strange to see mounting public rejection, as some articles of the law to be revised had the potential to weaken the antigraft body.
Lucius suspected that there were bad intentions in the KPK Law's revision. Moreover, several House members have become targets of the KPK's anticorruption investigations.
'It is probable that the obstinacy of the House and the government [to accelerate the deliberation of the KPK Law revision] is instead part of their attempts to hamper the body's moves in corruption eradication,' he said.
In a meeting on Friday, the House Legislative Body (Baleg) and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly agreed that the KPK Law revision would be taken over by the House and it would speed up the deliberation of the draft revision.
The agreement achieved in the meeting will be discussed at the House consultative body meeting on Monday before being brought to a plenary meeting the following day. If the House approves the draft KPK Law revision in the plenary meeting, it will only need to wait for a letter from President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to start the deliberation of the draft revision.
Baleg deputy chairman Firman Soebagyo was certain that the President's letter would be immediately issued because in the meeting, the law and human rights minister had agreed to speed up the deliberation of the draft revision.
'If the government does not immediately issue the President's letter, it means the government does not consider the KPK Law revision to be something important,' said Firman. (ebf)
