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KPK controversies deter leadership candidates
Activists blame the decline in applicants vying to be next leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on the agency’s failure to maintain credibility in the past five years.
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Seventy-eight employees of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), who were found guilty of an ethics breach related to illegal levies at KPK detention centers, make a public apology on Feb. 26, 2024 at the antigraft body’s Jakarta headquarters. (Antara/HO-KPK)
T
he current recruitment process for the next leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has drawn fewer applicants than previously, which observers attribute to the litany of controversies dogging the institution in the past five years.
Amid faltering public trust in the antigraft agency, the three-week registration for those looking to become one of five KPK commissioners closed on Monday at midnight with 318 people from various backgrounds, such as lawyers and civil servants, applying for the jobs.
This number is lower than the 376 applicants in 2019 and half as many as those in 2015, when 661 candidates applied for the job.
Deputy chairman of the government-sanctioned selection committee, Arif Satria, declined to disclose the names. But two incumbent KPK commissioners Johanis Tanak and Nurul Ghufron are reportedly on the list, along with former energy and mineral resources minister Sudirman Said, who was a campaigner for unsuccessful presidential candidate Anies Baswedan.
The selection panel will now vet the applicants and present the shortlisted names to the House of Representatives for confirmation sometime this year before the tenure of the incumbent KPK commissioners ends in December.
The committee will also assess 207 applicants for five seats on the KPK supervisory board, which is in charge of investigating ethics violations by KPK employees.
Losing public trust
