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member of the selection committee that nominated the eight remaining candidates for the future leaders of the nation’s antigraft body questioned the lawmakers’ decision to postpone the final selection process at the House of Representatives due to a paperwork glitch.

“What is the purpose? Is this a move to undermine the selection committee? Then so be it, we did all of the work [for the KPK leaders selection] and if there was a mistake, we will admit it,” Imam Prasodjo, a University of Indonesia sociologist and selection committee member, told reporters on Tuesday.

Imam attended the meeting with the House Commission III overseeing legal affairs after the House discovered a technical flaw in the paperwork submitted by the candidates on Monday, which led the House to suspend the interviews for the candidates.

The paperwork for the candidates, which was supplied by the KPK selection panel committee and can be downloaded online at www.anggaran.go.id, still uses the names of the first-term KPK leaders, instead of its current executives.

At the meeting, House Commission III lawmaker Ahmad Yani said that the paperwork inaccuracies were not merely a small mistake, arguing that the error “could tarnish the credibility of the selection panel”.

Choky Ramadhan, a researcher at the Society of Justice Observation (MaPPI), lambasted the House for disputing the paperwork technicalities and postponing the selection of the KPK executives, arguing that the House could have gone ahead with the interviews, while ordering the KPK selection committee to fix the paperwork problem.

“By summoning the selection committee, it appears that the House was deliberately looking for mistakes [made by the selection committee] to undermine its assessment,” Choky said.

The House meeting with the KPK selection panel on Monday, which had already run 30 minutes late, was eventually postponed as several fractions of the House deemed the presence of Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin at the meeting as “inappropriate”.

Factions from the United Development Party (PPP), Great In-donesia Movement Party (Gerindra), People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and National Awakening Party (PKB), instead demanded the attendance of Patrialis Akbar, the head of the KPK selection committee and a former minister who was replaced by Amir in October’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Previously, the House had been accused of dragging its feet with the selection process of the KPK leaders after they argued that the number of KPK candidates submitted by the selection panel should have been 10 instead of the current list of eight.

Fachry Ali, a political observer from the Institute for the Study and Advancement of Business Ethics (LSPEU), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the House could intentionally protract the KPK selection process, arguing that the Commission III legislators had deemed the KPK executives selection of huge importance. (sat)