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Civil society called on as wolves bay at KPK's door

Antigraft activists are calling on civil society to go all out to save the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) from all attempts to undermine its integrity — a campaign they claim is now being carried out by the police and the Attorney General’s Office

Dicky Christanto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, July 29, 2009

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Civil society called on as wolves bay at KPK's door

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ntigraft activists are calling on civil society to go all out to save the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) from all attempts to undermine its integrity — a campaign they claim is now being carried out by the police and the Attorney General’s Office.

“A continued campaign to support the KPK must be organized,” Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Danang Widoyoko told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

“Let it be known that many elements of civil society are ready to protect the KPK from all attempts to weaken or destroy the commission.”

He added one way to aid the cause was to encourage the KPK, widely touted as the only commission with a proven track record in fighting graft, to reveal graft cases implicating high-profile figures and the losses incurred by the state, to give the public and idea of the scale of the challenge faced by the KPK.

Danang said the public was now under the impression there was a concerted effort to undermine the KPK, with other state institutions, such as the current administration, the House of Representatives, the police and the AGO, all baying at the commission's door.

At the policy level, he went on, the government and the House of Representatives have appeared less than serious about deliberating the corruption court bill — which must be passed by year's end — let alone pass the bill into law.

Should the deadline not be met, corruption cases will have to be tried at district courts, widely perceived as being graft-ridden.

Busy waging a war on this front, the KPK has also had to deal with the targeting of its leadership by the police.

Following the arrest of then KPK chairman Antasari Azhar for the murder of state-owned PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran’s former director, Nazaruddin Zulkarnaen, two KPK deputy chiefs, Chandra Hamzah and Muhammad Yasin, have also been shadowed by the police.

The two are allegedly implicated in cases of abuse of authority and receiving bribes, respectively.

The ganging up against the KPK has not gone unnoticed on the international stage, with Transparency International (TI) also voicing its concerns about the commission.

In a press release, TI called on president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fulfill the anticorruption pledges he made throughout his campaign.

“TI stands behind Indonesian NGOs in support of the KPK as a stable institution, and condemns recent attempts to weaken the KPK’s independence and authority by turning it into a temporary, ad hoc institution,” the TI statement read.

It also warned the government's failure to shield the KPK and Corruption Court would not only hinder all efforts to eradicate corruption, but almost certainly impact on Indonesia's political and economic credibility.
“Most importantly, it will dent

Indonesians’ belief that their government is serious about establishing and maintaining a solid mechanism to hold the corrupt to account,” TI said.

Transparency International Indonesia secretary-general Teten Masduki said TI’s open letter was a call on the government to renew its efforts to wipe out corruption.

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