Watchdogs' grim report says Indonesian anti-graft body has 'lost public trust'

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Firli Bahuri (centre) speaks during a press briefing on the arrest of former PT Dirgantara Indonesia president director Budi Santoso on June 12 at the KPK's Jakarta headquarters. - -Courtesy of KPK

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): Two of the country's top corruption watchdogs have given the new leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) a red mark for performance in the first half of 2020, citing poor enforcement against special crimes and the many controversies embroiling the commission.

June marks the anti-graft body's sixth month under the leadership of chairman Comr Gen Firli Bahuri since the police general was installed in December 2019 by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.

“The KPK is entering its bleakest days, ” the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and Transparency International Indonesia (TII) wrote in their joint report on the KPK's performance under Firli, published Thursday (June 25).

The ICW and TII found that the KPK had significantly declined in its efforts to enforce the Corruption Law under Firli’s chairmanship, recording only two operations between January and June to arrest graft suspects. In comparison, the KPK launched five operations in the same period last year.

Both operations were launched in January, which netted Saiful Ilah, the regent of Sidoarjo in East Java and General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Wahyu Setiawan in two separate cases.

The watchdogs also highlighted that the anti-graft body had yet to arrest several suspects on its most-wanted list.

Among them are Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Harun Masiku, who is suspected of bribing Wahyu and Samin Tan, the owner of coal miner Borneo Lumbung Energi who is wanted for allegedly bribing several House of Representatives members in the Riau-1 coal-fired steam power plant (PLTU Riau 1) case.

The ICW and TII also noted that the KPK had not progressed in its investigations of at least 16 high-profile cases that incurred trillions in state losses, including the 1998 Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) bailout case and the 2001 electronic identity (e-ID) card procurement case. - The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network