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Zuckerberg steals the KPK’s thunder in Indonesia’s fight against graft
The President may forget he and the House of Representatives were united in castrating the powerful and much-feared KPK through Law No. 19/2019 that revised Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK in September 2019.
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Tax officer Rafael Alun Trisambodo (center) is surrounded by the media as he leaves the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in South Jakarta on March 1, after complying with the KPK’s summons to clarify his wealth. (Kompas.com/Kristianto Purnomo)
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n 2016, the founder and CEO of Meta (Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg, who also owns Instagram and WhatsApp social media platforms, told his guest President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo of his prediction that the world would face an extraordinary digital revolution within 10 to 15 years.
In 2021, Jokowi made his crystal ball divination based on Zuckerberg’s prophecy, but unfortunately, it turned out to be damaging for himself two years later, thanks to his part in weakening the much-feared Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Over the last few weeks, millions of Indonesians flooded Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp with their denouncement of Finance Ministry officials and their families for allegedly accumulating wealth to an unimaginable level and shamelessly showing off their hedonistic lifestyle on the three popular social media platforms.
Make no mistake, Indonesia is among the world’s largest social media users. As of February 2022, Indonesia is home to 196.4 million users of social media, mostly Facebook. Only China and India have more social media users than Indonesia across Asia and the Pacific. The data means 70.4 percent of the Indonesian population have social media accounts, more than half of them (52.7 percent) are males.
Around 224 million Indonesians access the Internet, therefore the government will be careful about losing its control of the netizens.
The netizens are now scrutinizing Maritime Affairs and Fishery Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, whose wealth is beyond imagination, although it is not necessarily ill-gotten. The government can no longer silence the noisy netizens using the draconian Law No. 11/2008 on Information Technology and Electronic Transaction (ITE).
According to bisnis.com, Wahyu has amassed nearly Rp 1 trillion since taking over the ministerial post in December 2020 from Edhy Prabowo, who was sentenced to nine years in jail for corruption. In his 2022 wealth report (LHKPN) Wahyu declared a wealth of Rp 2.94 trillion. Previously, when serving as deputy defense minister, he reported Rp 1.94 trillion in assets. Now the link to Wahyu's wealth report is no longer accessible.
