President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has shown consistency in his statement to strengthen the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
On the other hand, President Jokowi is also consistent in not intervening with the House of Representatives (DPR) Inquiry Committee on the KPK, which is the domain of the DPR. The public appreciates the consistency of the President\'s statement. The President\'s choice and political stance are legitimate, because the “guerrilla factor” out to weaken the KPK comes from the parties that support the government of President Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Most recently, an Inquiry Committee member fromLampung II electoral district of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Henry Yosodiningrat, proposed freezing the KPK’s activities. PDI-P secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto hurriedly corrected Henry’s statement the following day, emphasizing that his party was not in a position to freeze or dissolve the KPK.
The House Inquiry Committee on the KPK will face the public. The desire to dissolve or freeze the KPK, which has been prompted by the fact that the elite’s safety and comfort have been disturbed, will be subject to the will of the people. The House members’ political decision against the KPK will become a big issue that can affect democracy in the general elections. The tweet from political observer Mochtar Pabottingi is an example of how a netizen might react.
President Jokowi’s intention to strengthen the KPK is still rhetoric, but different in reality. The President’s order to thoroughly investigate the acid attack on KPK investigator Novel Baswedan has not resulted in any clear resolution. Novel, one of the KPK investigators handling allegations of corruption in the e-ID procurement case, was doused with liquid acid on Apr. 11, 2017. Up to the present, his case remains in the dark.
The pressure from a number of activists that the President form a joint fact-finding team has not garnered a response.On the other hand, the police have moved quickly on a report accusing Novel of defamation.
A number of anticorruption activists who are around the President can give appropriate input to the President on how to manage the increasingly open efforts to weaken the KPK. The establishment of the House Inquiry Committee, the acid attack on Novel, the death of witness Johannes Marliem in the US, and defamation reports filed against a number of media to the police and the Press Council – do these facts need to be seen as separate events or a single connected event?
President Jokowi can go back to the Navacita documents that led him to become president: "Rejecting a weak state by reforming and upholding a legal system which is free from corruption, is dignified and trustworthy.” The public is awaiting the emergence of a strong state, at least in the cases of Novel and corruption eradication.
