Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) held a theatrical action rejecting the new leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for the period 2019-2023 who will be inaugurated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Friday December 20.
The theatrical action involved two dukun (shaman) who were in the process of expelling the evil spirits.
ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana said that the evil spirits were like the KPK leadership who are mired in past problems. One of them is KPK chairpersons elect police officer Commander General Firli Bahuri who is known to have been involved in ethical problems as a former KPK deputy prosecutor.
“So we’re likening it to people who have this problem of evil spirits which must be expelled from the KPK”, said Ramadhana in front of the KPK building in Jakarta on Friday.
Ramadhana is pessimistic about the new KPK leadership saying that a number of the elected KPK leaders have no vision on how to eradicate corruption or how to carry the KPK forward into a better era.
He confirmed that ICW will closely monitor the performance of the new leadership over the next four years. Especially, he said, because there are still 12 big cases which the KPK has to complete, including the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support Scheme (BLBI) corruption case.
“How is it possible for us the public to trust these five people to make the KPK better. We will most certainly monitor their performance while pursuing an appeal [against the KPK law] at the MK [Constitutional Court”, he said.
Aside from the new leadership, Ramadhana also criticised the KPK supervisory council (dewas) which will also be inaugurated this afternoon. According to Ramadhana, no matter who is appointed to the council it will not change the substance of the new KPK law which has clearly weakened the anti-graft agency.
“Right from the start we rejected the concept of a dewas in its entirety. So no matter who is appointed it will not change our assessment that the president doesn’t understand the concept of strengthening the KPK”, he said.
President Widodo will inaugurate the new KPK leadership for 2019-2023 at the State Palace in Central Jakarta later today. The KPK leadership elect members who will be inaugurated are Firli Bahuri, Alexander Marwata, Lili Pintauli Siregar, Nurul Ghufron and Nawawi Pomolango.
After being inaugurated, the new and the old KPK leadership will hold a transfer ceremony to hand over the leadership.
In addition to inaugurating the new KPK leadership, Widodo will also inaugurate the members of the new supervisory council. Former Supreme Court magistrate Artidjo Alkostar and former High Court justice Kupang Albertina Ho will be two of the council members. (psp/pmg)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Aksi Teatrikal Tolak Firli Cs, Dukun Usir Roh Jahat di KPK”.]
