The House of Representatives (DPR) is certainly no House of Representatives of Corruptors. "The honorable" representatives of the people are paid for by the people\'s money.
The plan of the House Inquiry Committee on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to meet with graft convicts at a number of penitentiaries in Indonesia really disturbs the justice of the citizens, the taxpayers. As said by deputy chairperson of the inquiry committee, Risa Mariska from the Faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), "The inquiry committee wants to dig up information about what they felt when they were witnesses, suspects and convicted in corruption cases." Risa is the people\'s representative from the electoral district of West Java VI, which covers Bogor and Bekasi regencies, and got 25,578 votes in her electoral district.
It is very easy to meet with the corruptors in penitentiaries. They will also be very happy and pleased to tell the inquiry committee about their treatment by the KPK during the investigation, while in detention, how they felt on falling victim to a conspiracy, their feelings of being trapped, and on a number of inhumane treatments.
With that data, the inquiry committee – which is sponsored by a coalition of parties supporting the government – will have the ammunition to deconstruct the anti-corruption institution. The objective of the inquiry cannot be determined from the statement of Fahri Hamzah, Deputy Speaker of the House from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction, that it is to review state institutions such as the KPK. Reviewing is the same as dissolving the KPK or disabling the KPK\'s authority or turning the KPK into an ad hoc institution.
The target of the inquiry committee is actually obvious, that is, how to spay the KPK. Statements made by a number of politicians that the inquiry committee will strengthen the KPK absolutely do not have any empirical evidence. Since the beginning, a number of House politicians have been annoyed by the KPK\'s actions to eradicate corruption in this country. A number of House members have been tried, party chairmen arrested, and so have businessmen. The KPK is not without mistakes. However, the way to correct it is not by using the right of inquiry, the legitimacy of which remains problematic.
The inquiry committee must realize that they are the people\'s representatives, not the corruptors’ representatives. The corrupt behavior of state administrators has resulted in violations of the socio-economic rights of the people. The behavior of constitutional justices who exchange rulings of the Constitutional Court to enrich themselves is a betrayal of law. It is the victims of this corrupt behavior who should be heard by the inquiry committee, not the corruptors.
It is unfortunate, indeed, that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is too poor in speech to defend the KPK. President Jokowi merely said he wanted to strengthen the KPK. However, the President cannot interfere in the matters of inquiry because it is the constitutional right of the House. Even so, the direction taken by the inquiry committee can be seen to delegitimize the KPK.