This year, Indonesia witnessed the enactment of a revised law that would defang the antigraft body. 2019 brought some good news too – but only for a high-profile graft defendant who was freed of all charges and a handful of graft convicts who had their sentences reduced.

Twenty years ago, the country enacted its first anticorruption law in the Reform Era: Law No. 31/1999, which formally classified corruption as an extraordinary crime. The law brought hope for the nation, which had just freed itself from 32 years of the corrupt New Order regime.

The law was followed by the formation of the KPK in 2002, which has since made great strides in investigating high-profile cases.

“The international forum has been looking at Indonesia and its KPK as a beacon of hope, as the agency has been leading progress in the fight against corruption,” KPK deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said in a recent discussion. 

However, the public and antigraft activists may mark this year’s International Anticorruption Day, which falls on Monday, bitterly as their fight against corruption faced massive setbacks throughout the year.

One of the biggest blows this year was the revision to the KPK Law, which was hastily prepared by the House of Representatives in just two weeks, with little to no objection from the government to stop the process.

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