An undercover investigator, masked to conceal his identity, holds up evidence seized during the arrest of Iwan Rusmali, the Banjarmasin Legislative Council Speaker of South Kalimantan, at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta, Thursday (14/9). Iwan is suspected of bribery in acase involving the Banjarmasin administration and the local branch of the PDAM water company. Four other people believed to be involved in the case were also brought to KPK headquarters. The evidence includes Rp 48 million in cash.
No one knows what was going on in the mind of Eddy Rumpako, the mayor of Batu, East Java. At the end of his term, he will fall into the hands of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Eddy was arrested at his official residence on Saturday (16/9) on suspicions of accepting a bribe linked to a number of projects in Batu. His term ends in December 2017. Eddy will pass the baton to his wife, Dewanti Rumpoko, who was voted into office in Aprilas the new Batu mayor.
Maybe Eddy became overexcited. He had almost finished his term well and had successfully supported his wife’s campaign to be elected as his successor. He became careless. A Latin saying goes, abite nummi, ego vosmergam, ne mergar a vobis (“Away with you, money, I will sink you that I may not be sunk by you“). The party that he supported and which supported him in turn, the PDI-P, immediately dismissed him.
Throughout 2017, the KPK has sent out a clear signal of its war on corruption, despite the resistance from several politicians and the ongoing clash with the House of Representatives and its special committee on the right of inquiry into the KPK. After arresting Constitutional Court justice Patrialis Akbar in January, the KPK has arrested an official almost every month. In the case of regional heads, this year has seen the KPK bust five governors, regents or mayors.
Three days before arresting Eddy on Wednesday (13/9), the KPK detained OK Arya Zulkarnaen, regent of Batubara, North Sumatera, who is also suspected of taking a bribe. On Tuesday (12/9), the KPK also nabbed the mayor of Tegal, Central Java, Siti Masitha. In East Java at the start of August, the KPK arrested Pamekasan Regent Achmad Syafii. In June 2017, a number of high-ranking officials and members of the East Java Regional Legislative Council (DRPD), as well as high-ranking officials and leaders of the Mojokerto DPRD.
Some politicians see the widespread arrests of state officials, including House leadership and DPRD members, as an indication of the anti-corruption body’s failure in carrying out its corruption prevention duties. Article 1, Paragraph 3 of Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK states that corruption eradication includes its prevention. However, the KPK also has the task of carrying out legal action against corruptors.
A KPK finding revealed that 32 percent of those that have fallen to corruption are politicians. They include 78 regional heads and 134 House or DPRD members, excluding OK Arya, Eddy and the DPRD leaders of Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, who were arrested by the KPK in September.
The disagreement between the House, political parties and the KPK has caused some politicians who initially had no intention of committing corruption feel safe and complacent. Bribery, once the enemy of state officials, is now sinking them.
