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Securing best KPK leaders
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Members of civil groups rally to demand President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo remove problematic names in the list of leadership candidates for the Corruption Eradication Commission. (JP/Anggie Angela)
W
ith President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo unlikely to make changes to the list of 10 candidates for the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) top posts, the burden of selecting the right people to lead the country’s fight against graft for the next four years has shifted to the House of Representatives.
Jokowi has 14 days to submit the names to the House after receiving on Monday the list from a team he commissioned to find the best candidates for the KPK posts. Addressing a group of chief editors, Jokowi said he would look for more information related to the candidates, but the evaluation would merely be a formality given the four months of comprehensive screening they had gone through.
Jokowi’s statement, therefore, should be understood as a response to pressures that have been mounting for him to drop candidates with checkered pasts. The selection process has been fraught with controversy from the beginning, ranging from allegations that the committee had intended to pass certain candidates to alleged conflict of interests besetting some of the committee members.
In the past, Jokowi and his predecessors immediately went to the House upon receiving the list of KPK candidates, but the President revising the list has no precedence either. That’s why, perhaps, the selection committee chairwoman, Yenti Garnasih, said the list she submitted to Jokowi was final, as the committee was an extension of the President’s authority.
The House Commission III overseeing law and human rights will now choose five of the 10 candidates, who comprise incumbent KPK commissioner Alexander Marwata, the National Police’s Insp. Gen. Firli Bahuri, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) auditor I Nyoman Wara, state prosecutor Johanis Tanak, Witness and Victim Protection Institute (LPSK) member Lili Pintauli Siregar, judge Nawawi Pomolango, academics Luthfi Jayadi Kurniawan and Nurul Ghufron, as well as civil servants Roby Arya Brata and Sigit Danang Joyo.
At a glance, the list proves wrong those who had accused the selection committee of favoring candidates from the police force, who have been embroiled in conflict with the KPK several times.
However, don’t expect the lawmakers to thoroughly consider questions about the 10 candidate’s track records, competence and, in particular, commitment to the fight against corruption. With the ruling coalition dominating the House, it is difficult to imagine that the lawmakers would reject all the candidates and ask the government to submit new names, although theoretically, it could happen.
The interview of the candidates at the House, which is expected to be open to the public, will be interesting to follow. But as a political process, what transpires in the public realm does not necessarily represent what is really happening. The course of the selection of the new KPK leaders will instead depend on negotiations among factions at the House and the political elite, which normally occurs behind closed doors.
For that reason, pressure from the public, which wants to see the best candidates lead the KPK, must not fade. After all, the political parties should listen to their constituents.
