The chairman of the Special Inquiry Committee of the House of Representatives against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Agun Gunandjar (left), accompanied by deputy chairman Dossy Iskandar Prasetyo (second left) listens to an explanation by the committee members in a hearing of the inquiry committee on the implementation and authority of KPK at Parliament complex, Jakarta, Monday (19/6). The hearing also waited the attendance of Miryam S Haryani, who has been named a suspect by the KPK for allegedly obstructing the process of investigation into mega corruption in electronic ID card procurement.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The House of Representatives committee for the inquiry against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has brought up the notion of not giving the KPK and the National Police a budgetary allocation for 2018. They accuse the KPK and the National police of not respecting the House of Representatives.
“We are currently deliberating the 2018 RAPBN (state budget plan), which includes the budget for the National Police and the KPK. However, if both institutions do not carry out their duties as mandated by the law and do not respect the House of Representatives, then we’ll just leave the 2018 budget zero for both of them. Done,” said Misbakhun, a Golkar lawmaker and member of the House committee for the inquiry against the KPK, in Jakarta on Tuesday (20/6).
According to Misbakhun, the matter has been discussed internally by the inquiry committee and most of the members of the 23-person committee have agreed to it. The members of the inquiry committee are from seven factions in the House which are the PDI-P party, Golkar party, Gerindra party, National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party, Nasdem party and Hanura party factions.
Most of the inquiry committee members are members of the House Commission III, which is a work partner of the National Police and the KPK, and has the annual duty of determining the proposed budget for the two institutions.
The notion of freezing the budget for the KPK and the National Police came up after the KPK refused the House inquiry committee’s requeston Monday last week to bring in Miryam S. Haryani, a Hanura politician. The KPK said that the request by the inquiry committee is an effort to obstruct the legal process. Miryam has been named a suspect and detained by the KPK since May 1, 2017. Miryam is alleged to have given false testimony when testifying as a witness in an e-ID corruption case hearing.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Tito Karnavian said that the National Police planned to refuse the House’s request to forcibly bring in individuals that the inquiry committee wanted to question. The police say they cannot fullfil such requests as they have an unclear legal basis (Kompas, 20/6).
Will not be realized
Tito believes that the threat by the House inquiry committee of freezing the budget of his institution will not happen. This is because the budget mechanism has been ongoing in accordance with the provisions of the law. “The budget is already ongoing. I don’t think it would go that far (freezing of budget),” he said.
Tito added that the National Police budget was spent on, among other things, the maintenance of public order and security, and so it was impossible that the House would put the nation’s security at stake by freezing the police budget.
Tito stressed that the National Police were not able to carry out the instruction stipulated in Article 204 and Article 205 of Law No. 17/2014 on Legislative Institutions (MD3). The two articles states that if there is an official, a Indonesian citizen or foreigner that does not respond after being summoned three times consecutively without a valid reason, the inquiry committee is allowed to summon the person by force with the help of the National Police.
However, according to Tito, the National Police only refer to the Criminal Code (KUHAP) which states that the National Police can only summon people by force in legal cases, while the summons by the House inquiry committee, Tito argues, is a political move.
Therefore, according to Tito, the article on the forcible summons in the MD3 law is seen as unclear. The National Police will form a team to carry out legal consultation with the House commission III on that matter.
However, an inquiry committee member from the Golkar Party faction, Bambang Soesatyo, said that the mandate of the MD3 law should be enough for the National Police to carry out the order of the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the KPK is considered to have disobeyed the MD3 law for refusing to bring in Miryam.
The KPK and the National Police have not only ignored the law, but have also disrespected the House of Representatives, said Misbakhun. “When they need the House, they come begging. But now, when we need them, they are not around,” he said.
However, an inquiry committee member from the PDI-P faction, who is also a commission II member, Masinton Pasaribu, said that the idea of freezing of National Police and KPK budgets was still merely a suggestion by individuals within the inquiry committee. Meanwhile, PAN chairman Zulkifli Hasan said that the suggestion of not allocating a 2018 budget for the National Police and KPK is excessive.
Professor
As many as 357 professors from a number of universities in Indonesia have declared their support for the KPK and rejected the inquiry process against the KPK at the House of Representatives. Head of Padang State University’s Anti-Corruption Joint Movement Study Center, Mohammad Isa Gautama, said that the support shows that the House has chosen to no longer represent the wishes of the people.
A professor from Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Asep Saefuddin, added that the House’s move of holding an inquiry is part of the effort to impede the KPK. The formation of the inquiry committee is also procedurally flawed. “There should not be an institution that forces its will when it is legally flawed,” he said.
Related to the right of inquiry against the KPK, yesterday, four people submitted a proposal for a judicial review of Article 79 Paragraph (3) of the MD3 Law to the Constitutional Court. The petitioners, made up of postgraduate students and lecturers, are Achmad Saifudin Firdaus, Bayu Segara, Yudhistira Rifky Darmawan and Tri Susilo. They ask for the interpretation of the article to be made clear.
Article 79 Paragraph (3) of the MD3 Law states that the right of inquiry is the right of the House of Representatives to carry out investigation on the implementation of a law and/or a government policy that is connected to a matter that is urgent, strategic and greatly effects the lives of the people as a community, a nation and a country, that is suspected to be in violation of the law.
A lawyer of the petitioners, Victor Santoso Tandiasa said that the interpretation of the article needs to be clarified because the House has interpreted it freely.
