Residents process data and photographsfor their electronic identity (e-ID) cards in the Ilir Barat district office I, Palembang, South Sumatera, Monday (13/3). After the processing, the residents have to wait for months to get their e-ID cards due to the lack of e-ID blanks since August 2016. Most of them are given temporary ID cards which are valid for six months. At least 100 people process their ID cards at the district office per day. The temporary ID cards are mostly used to apply for jobs and enter state official schools which will open in the middle of this year.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The corruption allegations surrounding the procurement of electronic identification cards (e-KTP) was not discussed during President Joko Widodo’s meeting with leaders of state institutions on Tuesday (14/3/2017). This has triggered questions about the support of government elites for corruption eradication efforts, especially regarding the e-KTP case.
More questions have arisen regarding political elites’ support of the investigation into the e-KTP corruption case as the leaders of the House of Representatives are also planning to raise the House’s right of inquiry against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The House believes that there are irregularities in the investigation of the e-KTP corruption case, which allegedly incurred Rp 2.3 trillion (US$171.6 million) in state financial losses and involved government executives, legislators, state-owned enterprises and private companies. The right of inquiry, known locally as “hak angket”, is believed to further the House’s plan to revise the KPK Law.
“[We were discussing] matters of equitable economic distribution policies, related to redistribution of assets and agrarian reform. We are always focused in our meetings and never go out of topic,” the President said on Tuesday in response to being asked whether or not the e-KTP case was discussed in the meeting with state body leaders at the State Palace in Jakarta.
Attending the meeting were People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Zulkifli Hasan, House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) speaker Mohammad Saleh, Supreme Court chief justice Hatta Ali, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) chair Harry Azhar Azis, Judicial Council (KY) chair Aidul Fitriciada Azhari and Constitutional Court (MK) deputy chair Anwar Usman.
MPR deputy speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid said that the e-KTP case was not discussed in the meeting between the President and state body leaders as the meeting was about equitable development. Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University professor Azyumardi Azra said in Jakarta that he regretted that the e-KTP case was not discussed in the meeting. This is despite the possibility of using the meeting as opportunity for state body leaders to support the investigation into the case that is alleged to have involved numerous politicians.
Azyumardi said that leaders of state law enforcement bodies, including the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, should have voiced their support for the investigation of the e-KTP case for the sake of national interest.
“It was so regrettable that the opportunity was not used. This is despite the President having said that the case must be investigated thoroughly. The President and the Vice President have sent a strong signal,” Azyumardi said. He added that the current condition made it necessary for the President to gather civil forces to support the investigation into the e-KTP case.
The President voiced his demand that the e-KTP case be investigated thoroughly on March 11, or four days ago. “Now everything has fallen apart as the budget was subject to corruption. Rp 6 trillion of budget funds was spent only to change paper-based ID cards to plastic-based ones. The system is still in disarray,” the President said (Kompas, 12/3).
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said a proper and transparent legal process must be applied in the e-KTP corruption investigation and that everyone must fully accept the process.
Political corruption
Meutia Hatta, the daughter of founding father Mohammad Hatta, said that she hoped the involvement of former Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi in the case would be the only time a public official who had accepted the Bung Hatta Anti-Corruption Award (BHACA) be involved in a corruption case. Gamawan accepted the BHACA in 2004. The award is given to individuals thought to be free of corruption who can actively inspire local communities to eradicate corruption.
All public officials, Meutia said, must have a sincere intention to carry out the people’s mandate and avoid corruption. The absence of sincerity in carrying out the people’s mandate is among the causes of political elites’ involvement in corruption cases.
The e-KTP case shows how corruption in Indonesia has metamorphosed from administrative corruption to massive-scale political corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats and businesspeople. Political parties have the responsibility to resolve this phenomenon of political corruption.
“We call this political corruption because it involves politicians, bureaucrats and businesspeople. How can this happen? It is because we have yet to have a strong supervision system on lawmakers and members of political parties,” Transparency International Indonesia secretary general DadangTrisasongko said.
He said that this lack of supervision results in uncontrolled lobbying in the parliament involving bureaucrats, lawmakers and businesspeople. Furthermore, a system to curb and tackle conflicts of interest in parliament is not yet in place.
Hidayat Nur Wahid said that he hoped the e-KTP corruption case would be reported proportionately. He said that excessive reporting on lawmakers involved in corruption cases would be unfair. The House’s good reputation will be damaged only because some of the lawmakers are involved in corruption cases.
Meanwhile, House deputy speaker Fahri Hamzah said that the case dossier read at the e-KTP trial last week was biased. This was why he proposed the plan to use the House’s right of inquiry against the KPK.
“The case dossier was made in the interest of a certain person in order to shroud the role and involvement of certain persons in the case. There are important persons that remain invisible in the case. On the other hand, there are unimportant persons that seem to have become important. Law enforcers are biased to take the case wherever they please,” Fahri said, adding that there are many conflicts of interest in the case’s investigation.
Separately, the House Legislation Body head from Golkar Party faction, Firman Subagyo, said that there was a possibility that the list of the 2017 Priority National Legislation Program will be amended to include the draft laws in the open cumulative list. Included in this list is the revision of the KPK Law.
