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aced with the prospect of its authority being stripped by the House of Representatives, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) called on lawmakers to amend the 2002 KPK Law together with other laws that could strengthen the country'€™s anticorruption campaign.

'€œWe want several regulations to be amended and synchronized [in order to support our work],'€ acting KPK chairman Taufiequrrachman Ruki said during a meeting with House Commission III overseeing legal affairs in Jakarta, on Thursday.

Ruki said he wanted the work to amend the KPK Law to be done concurrently with a number of other pieces of legislation, including the outdated Criminal Code (KUHP), the Criminal Procedures Code (KUHAP) and Law No. 43/1999 on Graft-free State Administrators Law, among others.

He said that if the House pressed ahead with its amendment plan, lawmakers should begin their work on the KPK Law only after revisions on other relevant pieces of legislation were complete. '€œI agree with a revision as long as it does not serve to weaken the KPK,'€ Ruki said.

Ruki also called on the House to only amend specific aspects of the law, in order to better reconcile and synchronize anticorruption efforts with the existing regulations, including granting the KPK authority to appoint its own investigators.

He also wanted lawmakers to include a provision that would sanction the establishment of an oversight body that could monitor the work of the antigraft body'€™s leaders.

Furthermore, Ruki said the KPK Law should also be amended to allow the antigraft body to halt an investigation into graft suspects by issuing a warrant known as an SP3.

Meanwhile, acting KPK commissioner Johan Budi balked at Ruki'€™s proposal, saying that leaders of the antigraft body should not be given the right to issue orders to halt a graft probe.

'€œWe have to understand why the KPK was established without the ability to issue an SP3. At that time, it was thought imperative that graft suspects should not be treated like automated teller machines. The KPK has to be very careful before naming people suspects,'€ he said on the sidelines of the meeting on Thursday.

Ruki'€™s statement, said Johan, was a personal opinion and did not reflect the stance of the KPK leadership.

Johan also rejected the plan to revise the KPK Law, saying that the commission would be weakened by the plan.

In the meeting, lawmaker Benny K. Harman of the Democratic Party, the deputy chairman of House Commission III, said his commission expected the KPK to elaborate on the points of revisions that it suggested would strengthen the antigraft body'€™s authority.

On behalf of the commission, Benny urged the KPK to clearly lay out to the House the standard operational procedures it used to conduct its job.

Benny also called on the KPK to improve its internal monitoring system to avoid abuses of power.

Commission III also urged the KPK to establish a more systematic corruption prevention mechanism that would apply to all ministries, government institutions and regional administrations, so as to reduce corrupt practices.

Benny said that during the meeting the antigraft body had essentially assented to the House'€™s plan to revise the 2002 KPK Law.

Meanwhile, House deputy chairman Taufik Kurniawan said he personally wanted the antigraft body to be strengthened, but maintained that the KPK Law was due for an amendment to keep it more relevant with current conditions.

Taufik also said that the House had yet to decide on when it would start its work on the amendment plan, as the draft was still being discussed at the Legislation Body (Baleg) and by Commission III leaders. '€œThe point is that with this amendment the KPK can retain its integrity and be loved by the public,'€ he said. (alm)