Irfan Kamil, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) activists held a theatrical action in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Supervisory Board (Dewas) offices at the KPK Anti-Corruption Education Centre building in Jakarta on the afternoon of Friday July 15.
ICW believes that the KPK Supervisory Board is suffering from "masuk angin" (a slight cold) because it has not followed up on alleged ethical violations committed by former KPK Deputy Chairperson Lili Pintauli Siregar after she resigned from the commission.
"We are giving anti-masuk angin balsam to the KPK Dewas because we feel that right from the start of the ethical code hearings up until the decision [not to pursue the case], the Dewas' steps have been masuk angin", said ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana at the location.
"So, this is an effort by the public to make the Dewas aware that it needs to be more objective, independent and professional in its handling of alleged ethical code violations", he said.
The theatrical action was performed by two players. One player brought a bucket in the form of balsam and the other played the role of KPK Dewas Chairperson Tumpak Panggabean.
During the action, the person who played Panggabean wore a white shirt with the back covered in kerokan – marks on the back after being oiled and scraped to alleviate the symptoms of masuk angin.
Following the theatrical action, Ramadhana urged the KPK Supervisory Board to report Siregar to law enforcement officials using the evidence already submitted during the ethics probe examination.
ICW also urged the national police's Corruption Crimes Directorate (Dittipikor) and the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office to issue an order to conduct a criminal investigation in to the alleged gratification case involving Siregar.
"So our call is not just for law enforcement to be proactive, but that the Dewas must also be cooperative in ensuring that the evidence which they obtained is handed over to law enforcement officials", said Ramadhana.
"We strongly suggest that the case not be handled by the KPK because we are concerned that will be a conflict of interest as up until now there has indeed been many irregularities in how the KPK has handled the case", he said.
Siregar's resignation from the leadership was made official based on Presidential Decree (Kapres) Number 71/P/2022 signed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and dated July 11, 2022 on the termination of a KPK leader.
Following her resignation, the KPK Supervisory Board declared that the ethics hearing held into Pintail's alleged ethics violations had been dropped.
"[We] have received and read Lili Pintauli's resignation letter dated July 11, 2022, which was directed to President Jokowi with copies sent to the KPK Dewas", said Panggabean during a press conference on Monday.
"[We] declare that the ethics hearings into alleged ethical code violations in the name of LPS (Lili Pintauli Siregar) have been dropped and an end to holding the ethics hearings", said Panggabean.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "ICW Gelar Aksi Teatrikal "Balsem Anti-masuk Angin" di Depan Kantor Dewas KPK".]
