TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
As civil servants, KPK employees may find it hard to prosecute government officials
A controversial amendment into the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has stripped special authorities of the anticorruption law enforcement body and turned it into a government institution.
Change Size
2019 may be remembered as the year the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and antigraft activists fought a losing battle. (JP/Donny Fernando)
A
ntigraft activists have raised doubts about the ability of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to maintain its independence once its employees become regular civil servants and as such will be under government supervision.
A controversial amendment to the KPK Law has stripped the law enforcement body of special authority and turned it into a government institution.
The revised law, through articles 1, 24 and 69, also mandates a change of employment status from nongovernment employees to civil servants, emphasizing that all KPK employees must be given state civil service status no later than in 2021.
Zaenur Rohman, a researcher of Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (Pukat UGM), said the KPK would lose authority over its own manpower, as the recruitment process would be conducted by two government agencies—the Administration and Bureaucracy Reform Ministry (PAN-RB) and the National Civil Service Agency (BKN).
This, he added, would potentially trigger confusion, since the government could recruit people that were not even needed by the commission. For example, the government could recruit more administrative officers even though the KPK needs more people to fill prosecutor positions.
“This employment incompatibility between KPK and the government may hamper the KPK’s [efforts of] investigating corruption, since the government will probably not understand the KPK’s needs,” Zaenur told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He added that KPK employees would have to obey any of the government’s instructions, because any violations might influence their annual assessment. This would create a major problem if the government asked the KPK to perform an unusual instruction that would affect the prosecution of a corruption case.
