TheJakartaPost
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The public has cast doubt over whether the newly installed KPK leaders, chairman Comr. Gen. Firli Bahuri and his deputies will make a difference. Such pessimism, however, should not matter to them as the public has always set the bar very high in the war on corruption.
The KPK can only flourish where its independence is guaranteed. If it becomes answerable to the executive it is supposed to oversee, under the orders of government cronies chosen for political convenience, the notion that it could offer any real resistance to corruption would be laughable. Laughable, that is, were the inevitable impact on Indonesian democracy not so truly tragic.
Civil service reform has yielded some improvements in the general administration, but why change something that does not need fixing? Why subdue the KPK to a system that cannot offer the same level of scrutiny in recruitment, progressiveness in personnel development, transparency and performance orientation?
Jokowi might think he has nothing to lose, as this will be his last term in office, but he would be remembered for being halfhearted about fulfilling his election campaign pledge, despite the overall success of many of his development programs.
The bill on the amendment of the KPK Law currently tabled by the House of Representatives is just part of a long-running, systematic and structured effort to paralyze the antigraft body, hence depriving the country of a chance of winning its war on corruption.
