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KPK commended for high-profile arrests, but activists demand more
The arrests of Edhy and Juliari came as controversies within the KPK eroded public trust in the institution. These included an ethics violation by the commission’s new chairman, Firli Bahuri, and a restrictive new law that stripped the agency of some of its power to investigate graft cases.
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Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Firli Bahuri greets journalists before giving a press conference on a graft case pertaining to a fictitious project by state-owned construction firm PT Waskita Karya at the KPK headquarters in Jakarta on July 23. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was busy in the weeks leading up to International Anticorruption Day, which was commemorated on Dec. 9. The agency uncovered two instances of alleged bribery that implicated Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo and Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara in two sting operations.
The arrests of Edhy and Juliari came as controversies within the KPK eroded public trust in the institution. These included an ethics violation by the commission’s new chairman, Firli Bahuri, and a restrictive new law that stripped the agency of some of its power to investigate graft cases.
Other controversies included a KPK plan to procure cars for its highest-ranking officials and a recent reorganization that added 19 new positions or departments and removed three existing ones.
A recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found that only 22.2 percent of respondents believed law enforcement against graft had been better in recent times, about half of the 44.1 percent of respondents who answered the same way in the 2018 survey. The survey was conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 3 and polled 2,000 people in the country.
Read also: Indonesia's antigraft efforts deemed lackluster, survey finds
Activists said that while they welcomed the KPK’s recent operations targeting high-profile figures, the antigraft agency still had more to do, citing the fact that the agency had carried out fewer sting operations under its current leadership than under past KPK leaders.
“This year saw a sharp decline in KPK performance, with one indication being the low level of enforcement through sting operations,” said Zaenur Rochman, a researcher at the Gadjah Mada University Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (Pukat UGM).
