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Non-active KPK workers pin hopes on Jokowi to resolve their status
The team had sent a letter to the President on Aug. 23 that suggested their status be converted to civil servants, citing the mandate outlined in the 2019 KPK Law as well as the Ombudsman and Komnas HAM’s findings.
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team of 57 non-active Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees who failed the controversial civic knowledge test have pinned their hopes on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s intervention after the Constitutional Court rejected a judicial review petition that challenged the legal basis of the test.
On Aug. 31, the court rejected a petition filed by director of KPK Watch Indonesia Yusuf Sahide, who argued that the test did not have a strong legal basis as it was not mandated in the 2019 KPK Law or its derivative regulation, Government Regulation (PP) No. 41/2020.
The civic knowledge test was officially a part of the transition for the independent KPK employees into the state bureaucracy as mandated in the 2019 KPK Law, which was controversially passed following speedy deliberation at the House of Representatives. The law sets a two-year deadline for the KPK to implement the status change, which is slated to end this year.
Initially, 75 employees failed the test, 24 of whom were offered the option to be retained but were required to take civic education training. Six people declined to join the training session, joining the remaining 51 people who were reportedly set to be dismissed.
Read also: KPK fires 51 employees despite Jokowi's call for restraint
Yusuf also argued that using the test as a basis to dismiss the employees who failed to pass it was in contravention of the third paragraph of Article 28D of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of equal opportunities for Indonesian citizens to hold positions in public office.
In their ruling, the justices argued that such provision in the Constitution did not strip the rights of the government to set certain requirements as part of the selection process for public office.
However, four justices, namely Wahiduddin Adams, Suhartoyo, Saldi Isra and Enny Nurbaningsih, held a different view. They reaffirmed the court’s previous ruling that emphasized the transition process for KPK employees to become civil servants should not harm the rights of the employees.
Following the ruling, the KPK’s non-active head of the anticorruption education task force Hotman Tambunan said that the team of non-active KPK employees had pinned their hopes on Jokowi to decide their fate.
“We leave it to the President to decide [our status in the KPK],” Hotman said on Monday.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling, Hotman added, did not immediately sweep the Ombudsman and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) findings under the rug. The two agencies had concluded that the organizing of the civic knowledge test was marred by maladministration and human rights violations, respectively.
The team had sent a letter to the President on Aug. 23 that suggested their status be converted to civil servants, citing the mandate outlined in the 2019 KPK Law as well as the Ombudsman and Komnas HAM’s findings.
Hotman hoped that the facts established by the Ombudsman and Komnas HAM surrounding the irregularities of the test would be considered by Jokowi in his decision.
Hotman added that the team was also waiting on the Supreme Court’s ruling on their judicial review petition over the KPK regulation that mandated the civic knowledge test as part of the change in status for KPK employees.
The KPK’s non-active director of networking and interinstitutional cooperation Sujanarko said, taking into account the findings from the Ombudsman and Komnas HAM, as well as the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling, Jokowi could take a middle road by ordering a redo of the civic knowledge test.
However, the redo of the test should be held without its discriminatory aspects, Sujanarko added.
Read also: 'Racist, unnecessary': How controversial test seen as pretext to fire KPK top employees
Presidential spokesperson Fadjroel Rachman did not directly answer The Jakarta Post’s inquiry into the President’s response to the suspended KPK employees’ letter, but he said that the KPK was “an independent institution.”
Presidential expert staff member Dini Shanti Purwono said last week that the President was waiting on the Constitutional Court’s and the Supreme Court’s rulings before responding to the Komnas HAM and Ombudsman’s report, as reported by kompas.com.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Kurnia Ramadhana urged Jokowi to immediately respond to the non-active KPK employees’ letter and appoint them as civil servants.
“If the President does nothing, then his commitment to eradicating corruption is questioned,” Kurnia said.
Researcher from Jakarta-based Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Wawan Suyatmiko also echoed Kurnia’s statement, saying that Jokowi needed to immediately appoint the 57 non-active KPK employees as civil servants in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s ruling, arguing the change in status should not be detrimental to the employees’ rights. (mrc)
