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The week in review: Save our KPK!
Corrupt lawmakers are rejoicing this week after winning the right to amend Law No
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orrupt lawmakers are rejoicing this week after winning the right to amend Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission, an amendment that will render the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) a toothless tiger.
Lawmakers and government representatives will start altering the KPK Law as soon as this week, turning a deaf ear to public objections.
Spearheaded by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), all but one of the 10 political factions in the legislature agreed on Tuesday that the amendment was necessary not only to 'strengthen' the KPK, but also to free it from political interests.
Of the four key areas targeted by lawmakers, only one may help to strengthen the antigraft agency: The KPK will be authorized to recruit its own investigators. Since its establishment in 2003, the commission has relied on the National Police and Attorney General's Office for its pool of investigators.
The rest of the planned amendment will only stifle the KPK's ability to collar crooks, as it has famously done to dozens of corrupt lawmakers, Cabinet ministers, heads of local government and well-connected business personalities.
If lawmakers have their way, the KPK will have to obtain the court's permit for wiretapping, a monitoring tactic attributed to the KPK's numerous successful sting operations.
The revised law will give KPK the right to stop an investigation ' a double-edged sword that could be misused by investigators to blackmail suspects, but lawmakers say is necessary to uphold presumption of innocence. Currently, the KPK cannot legally stop an investigation and therefore only cases with strong evidence are launched. The result: No defendant has ever been acquitted.
Lawmakers also want to see the establishment of a supervisory body to ensure that no KPK leaders abuse their power to ends other than combating corruption. Critics warn that such a body could comprise representatives of political interests, who would dictate the narrow will of those interests.
It is a shame that lawmakers have ignored public desire to maintain the present KPK Law, which has proven reasonably effective, as evident from the corruption cases the commission has pursued, and from the prominent status of many of the perpetrators the corruption courts have tried and convicted.
The new KPK leaders have expressed dismay over the amendment plan, though their words ring hollow, most of them having loudly spoken about the need to switch the KPK's focus from corruption 'eradication' to 'prevention'.
The last hope rests with President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who has the prerogative to reject or accept a bill endorsed by the House of Representatives. But he has not indicated any great will to conserve the KPK's powers, despite the high priority placed on combating corruption in his Nawacita agenda.
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The President was right to instruct regional authorities to provide protection for Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) followers in their respective areas amid fears of discrimination and even attacks by mobs from mainstream religious groups.
'They are citizens too, so they are entitled to state protection,' the President said as quoted by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan on Wednesday. For Gafatar members, the President's statement is the state's guarantee that they will be safe back in their hometowns. Local authorities are obliged to follow the instruction without question.
The statement came as hundreds of Gafatar followers were forcibly evicted from their settlement in West Kalimantan to their hometowns, mainly in Java.
Still traumatized by the burning down of their new homes in West Kalimantan, the cult's members ' including women and children ' are facing uncertainty, having sold their property before they left for Kalimantan in the hope of starting a new life.
Providing security solves only one of a host of problems facing the returning members of the group. The government will have to bear the consequences of sending back the thousands of members to their villages of origin, providing them with housing and work. The heavier burden, though, will be the social and psychological problems arising from communities' hostility to the returning families.
On Wednesday, Luhut told journalists that Gafatar had a foothold in at least 19 provinces across the archipelago, despite having dissolved itself last year after failing to secure a government permit.
Former Gafatar chairman Mahful M. Tumanurung claimed during last week's rare public appearance at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) in Jakarta that the movement had 50,000 followers across the country.
Mixing Islam, Christianity and Judaism, members of the cult, which the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has condemned as heretical, live as reclusive groups prone to violent attacks by people claiming to defend mainstream Islam.
The state deems Gafatar a dangerous movement, a splinter of the rebellious Indonesian Islamic State (NII) with a hidden agenda of turning Indonesia into a caliphate with Mempawah, West Kalimantan, as its capital city.
Ensuring safety, creating jobs and providing religious 're-education' to thousands of people scattered in 19 provinces is a daunting task for the government. It's time to reflect if sending thousands back to Java is really the best solution to the Gafatar problem.
' Pandaya
