But this was not the case for 75 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees this year, who received a letter signed by the antigraft body’s chairman Firli Bahuri on their suspension from their duties and responsibilities within the commission, leaving their future with the commission hanging by a thread.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, was signed on May 7, but only sent to the employees on May 11, the last working day before the Idul Fitri collective leave period. In the letter, the employees were told to “hand over their duties and responsibilities to their direct superiors” and wait for further notice regarding their employment status.

The letter was sent to 75 employees who failed a civic knowledge test, which was part of a process to transition all KPK employees to civil servant status. The employee status transition is mandated by the revised KPK Law, which was passed after a quick deliberation at the House of Representatives in 2019.

Many criticized the test for some of its controversial questions that were deemed to discriminate against certain religious beliefs and ethnic groups.

Tri Artining Putri, a KPK employee working in its public relations bureau, was among those who received the letter. She said the lack of clarity over her employment status had thrown her into doubt over whether she should carry on her work, especially as the letter did not specify how long the suspension would last.

“Since we received the letter, no one has given us any clear information on our status, particularly regarding whether we can resume our old responsibilities or whether we will do our work in a reduced capacity,” Tri told the Post on Sunday.

The letter, she added, had taken a toll on the psychological condition of some of her colleagues, who began having anxiety attacks and trouble sleeping after being told they had failed the test.

“After being required to take the test and being treated like this, I think it’s reasonable for us to say that we’re willing to be dismissed from the commission for good,” Tri said.

Amid the grim development, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told the public on Monday that the result of the civic knowledge test should not be used as an excuse to dismiss KPK employees who failed the test.

“The results should be used as a step to the betterment of the KPK, both at the institutional and individual level,” Jokowi said. “It should also not be used as a basis to dismiss 75 employees who failed the test.”

He went on to call on the KPK commissioners, the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister as well as the National Civil Service Agency (BKN) to formulate a course of action geared to help those who did not pass the test. “I personally argue there’s still a chance to remedy [those who failed the test] with training on civic knowledge.”

President Jokowi said he agreed with the Constitutional Court’s ruling on a judicial review petition against the revised KPK Law, which emphasized that the employee status transition within the antigraft body should not be detrimental to the employees’ rights.

The KPK’s director of networking and inter-institutional cooperation, Sujanarko, who also failed the civic test, appreciated the President’s statement. He called for the KPK leadership to revoke the suspension letter to let the 75 employees return to work immediately.

Responding to Jokowi’s statement, KPK deputy chairman Nurul Ghufron said the antigraft body had agreed to use the results of the civic test as an insight to make improvements within the commission.

“With the President’s instruction, we hope the transition of KPK employees’ status to civil servant can be conducted swiftly and in line with existing procedures, so we can resume our work in fighting corruption,” he said.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) deputy coordinator Agus Sunaryanto also welcomed Jokowi’s statement, calling it a wake-up call to revoke an internal KPK regulation requiring all employees to take the test as part of the status transition.

He also called on the KPK’s supervisory council to conduct an audit of the entire transition process and be ready to hand out heavy punishments to KPK leaders if the council finds them to have committed an ethics breach by abusing their power through the test.

Anticorruption watchdogs have seen the civic test as an effort to weaken the KPK and its employees, who are seen as the frontline fighters against corruption in the country.

Previously, some employees, including senior investigator Novel Baswedan, were alleged to have been exposed to radical ideologies and to be part of a conservative Muslim and anti-Jokowi “Taliban” faction inside the KPK.

Also on Monday, some anticorruption activists who defended the 75 employees faced numerous digital attacks during a virtual discussion hosted by the ICW on the employees’ suspension. The group said in a statement they condemned the attacks and urged authorities to further investigate it.

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