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2021 a make-or-break year for KPK in restoring trust
Experts were quick to connect the agency's lackluster performance with the new KPK Law, which drew public outcry even before its deliberation by the House of Representatives and the government in late 2019.
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University students hold a theatrical rally to oppose revisions to the Corruption Eradication Commission Law at the legislative complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 1, 2019. (JP/Donny Fernando)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has resolved to pick up its performance and rebuild public trust this year, but experts have doubts over its independence, as a restrictive new law, coupled with controversial new leadership, appeared to have slowly affected the agency last year.
KPK leaders said in a year-end press briefing that the number of graft investigations in 2020 was less impressive than in 2019 and under past leaders.
The agency conducted 111 preliminary investigations and investigated 91 corruption counts last year — some of which are still ongoing. The figures are lower than the 142 preliminary probes and 145 investigations carried out in 2019. The KPK recorded seven successful sting operations this year, down from 21 operations in 2019 and 30 in 2018.
Experts were quick to connect the agency's lackluster performance with the new KPK Law, which drew public outcry even before its deliberation by the House of Representatives and the government in late 2019.
The harm done by the law was evident in the low number of KPK investigations, said Zaenur Rohman from Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat UGM), attributing the decline to problematic provisions that added more layers of bureaucracy to graft investigations.
Read also: Explainer: How the KPK is losing public trust
This includes the formation of a new supervisory council that has the power to approve or reject arrests, searches and wiretapping of people of interest. Previously, KPK investigators needed only the approval of the commission’s five leaders. Other controversial provisions have transformed the KPK from an ad hoc independent body into a state institution and required all KPK employees — including forensic auditors, investigators and prosecutors — to be civil servants.
