The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which nominated President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo for the 2014 presidential election, is blasting his administration for being indecisive over the planned amendments of the 2002 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker Hendrawan Supratikno has questioned President Jokowi'€™s political commitment to revising the KPK Law, which had been agreed to last year by the government and
the House.

'€œAlthough the President should carefully consider the draft bill, his prudence has also led us to think about his indecisiveness, like he was dancing the poco-poco,'€ Hendrawan said, referring to a folk dance involving constant back-and-forth swaying.

The term poco-poco was earlier used by PDI-P matron Megawati Soekarnoputri during a recent national meeting of the party when she was referring to some of the moves made by President Jokowi.

When faced with the option of siding with members of his Cabinet who have thus far endorsed the proposed amendments, or support public opinion, which overwhelmingly rejects the plan, Jokowi appeared to have taken the second option.

One of the most senior ministers in his Cabinet, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, for instance, has made public statements supporting the amendment of the KPK Law, claiming that it would strengthen the antigraft body.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Johan Budi, who previously served as a KPK commissioner, gave the impression that Jokowi would back public opinion against amending the law.

On Wednesday, Johan said that he was '€œonly conveying the President'€™s message'€ and not that of the government in rejecting the amendment plan, a statement that indicated that the government was split on the issue.

Jokowi'€™s stance has further incensed politicians at the House because the government had initially struck a deal with legislators to have the House prepare the antigraft bill while the government dealt with the tax amnesty bill.

That was to have enabled both pieces of legislation to be passed at the same time.

'€œThe [endorsement of the] KPK bill is a result of discussions between the House and the government. If they decide to backtrack [on the revision], we'€™d rather have turned our focus and energy to other matters sooner,'€ Hendrawan of the PDI-P said Thursday.

The PDI-P lawmaker, who is also a member of the House of Representatives Legislation Body (Baleg), indicated that the government relied on House lawmakers to pass the tax amnesty bill, which the government needed to have passed into law before deliberating the revised 2016 state budget (APBN-P).

In exchange, the House would be allowed to draft the revisions of the KPK law, albeit within the restricted scope that was previously agreed upon.

Meanwhile, Golkar Party lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun revealed that the tax amnesty bill was ready for House deliberation, saying he was optimistic that the bill would be endorsed before lawmakers went into recess.

Misbakhun also said that the House had essentially finished discussing the KPK bill and it would only take a plenary session to officially endorse the revisions so that the President could issue a directive to kick off the deliberation phase.

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