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A president’s words matter
President Jokowi did issue a statement asking for the 75 investigators to be reinstated, yet he did not take concrete steps to save the KPK personnel.
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National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Choirul Anam (second left) talks to journalists in Jakarta on May 24 after receiving a report from senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan (left) and other employees pertaining to the civic knowledge test for KPK employees. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)
I
t has been more than two weeks since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issued a statement regarding the future employment status of 75 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees, including several top investigators who are now on the verge of losing their jobs.
These KPK personnel face dismissal after failing to pass a civics test required to change their status to that of civil servants. We now have more reason to believe that these KPK officers will likely lose their jobs and the words of a sitting president will not mean a thing.
Many see the test as nothing more than a ploy to remove these individuals, including top KPK investigators Novel Baswedan and Sujanarko, who are known for handling major corruption cases and rounding up the country’s top politicians.
Antigraft activists also believe the test and its subsequent recommendation were just a plot hatched by outside parties wanting to emasculate the KPK and render it ineffective in the fight against corruption.
We have seen this game before. In fact, there have been too many episodes of the show, with the so-called “Gecko vs. Crocodile” conflict being the most prominent. The only difference then was that the words of the president mattered.
In 2009, the National Police arrested KPK deputy leaders Bibid Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah after KPK investigators wiretapped top police officer Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji.
Responding to the ensuing public outcry, then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono publicly asked for the standoff to be settled amicably. Yudhoyono also took steps to set up an eight-member commission to find a solution to the KPK-police standoff.
President Jokowi did issue a statement asking for the 75 investigators to be reinstated, yet he did not take concrete steps to save the KPK personnel. On the Cabinet-level, there have been no talks on marshalling resources to defend these investigators and the antigraft body in general.
This is all the more disappointing because the President is in his second term, a period that should allow him to take bold steps without having to consider his reelection prospects. The second term should be the moment when a sitting president must take big and bold initiatives, something that future historians would remember him by.
And with three years left in his administration, it is too early to say that the President is a lame duck whose influence is getting more diminished by the day.
So, Mr. President, it’s now time to prove your critics wrong.
