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KPK asks for nearly Rp 1t in additional funds to support graft fight, change in employment status
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Chairman of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Firli Bahuri speaks during a meeting with lawmakers of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs in the House compound in Jakarta on Thursday, June 25. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has a made a request for more funding next year to the House of Representatives to help strengthen the agency’s ability to combat graft and facilitate changes in its employees' status.
KPK chairman Firli Bahuri proposed that Rp 928.8 billion (US$65.1 million) be added to the Rp 995 billion that has been allocated to the antigraft agency for 2021. He argued the agency needed additional funding for its three strategies of education, prevention and law enforcement in the fight against corruption.
"Those three strategies are essential," Firli said during a meeting with House Commission III overseeing legal, human rights and security affairs on Thursday.
He went on to say that the KPK would also conduct antigraft training for state organizers, political parties and state-owned and private-owned enterprises.
"[All these sectors] are often involved in graft. We don't want that and will work our hardest so that people don't want to commit acts of corruption anymore,” he added.
Read also: Activists slam KPK for discussing raise for leaders amid declining public faith
In its corruption prevention strategy, the KPK will work on making systemic changes, as the existing commerce, economic, political and other systems had allowed for corruption to become commonplace.
The additional funding was also needed as the agency would change its employees’ status to civil servants.
The 2019 revision to the KPK Law stipulates that all employees, who were previously independent workers, would become civil servants, giving the agency a two-year transition period to implement the change.
Firli said the Rp 1.88 trillion in funds would be used to support the KPK’s performance, with Rp 1.59 trillion to be used for education programs, Rp 115.3 for graft prevention, Rp 105.1 billion for corruption mitigation and Rp 65.6 billion for graft enforcement.
In 2019, former KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo also requested an additional Rp 580.14 billion to the Rp 828.17 billion budget given for 2020, citing the need to build a storage facility for seized goods among other necessities. The government, however, decided to only give the agency around Rp 100 billion.
