A panel of judges listens to Constitutional Law expert Bvitri Susanti at a review hearing on the House of Representatives Special Inquiry Committee at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Tuesday (5/9). Aside from Bvitri, who delivered testimony as an expert witness for the petitioners of the constitutional review on the inquiry committee’s establishment, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leader Bambang Widjojanto and House Commission III member Arsul Sani, also made court statements.
In two days, on Sept. 28, 2017, the term of the special inquiry committee on the KPK will theoretically end. Debate still remains on whether or not its term should be extended.
There are factions that agree that the inquiry committee’s term should be extended. There are those that hold an opposite opinion. The House of Representatives plenary meeting on Tuesday will decide. We are of the opinion that the inquiry committee’s term does not need to be extended!
Throughout their two months of work, the inquiry committee has produced some findings, but its members have also come up with unproductive ideas. The idea to freeze the KPK, to strip the KPK of its authority, to cut the KPK’s budget, accusing KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo of being involved in a goods procurement corruption case, threatening to use the right of opinion if President Joko Widodo fails to heed its recommendations– these are some of the unproductive ideas that have come from the committee’s members. These ideas indicate that, at the very least, the inquiry committee on the KPK has failed to maintain their focus.
As has been written in this daily, corruption is the greatest enemy of this nation. Corruption continues to reign, because the fact is that the elite of this nation prefers a corrupt economic climate. They live in abundance of money, bribes, enjoying gratuities, owning blank stock, obtaining commissions from goods purchase and trading in authority. That is what the elite enjoy, to the loss and misery of the ordinary people. Corruption impoverishes! Village funds are corrupted for personal gain and, as a result, the people suffer. This worrying situation is what gave birth to MPR Decree No. XI/MPR/1998 on State Officials that are Clean and Free of Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism. The MPRDecree is the provision that later became the foundation for the establishment of the State Officials Wealth Audit Agency, which was later merged into the body of the KPK.
The KPK has worked to catch corruptors. This obviously disrupts the comfort of the political elite, who have been dredging wealth illegally. Indeed, the KPK is not perfect because it is made of normal humans. This must be addressed by the KPK. The KPK’s weakness is also evident within the House. However, the desire to strip the KPK of its authority and even freeze the KPK is against the people’s wishes.
The formation of the inquiry committee, which is dominated by parties that support the government, is not solid. Not all parties support the inquiry committee. Its legitimacy is still being reviewed by the Constitutional Court. Based on these arguments, the inquiry committee’s term should not be extended. The recommendations produced by the House factions of the parties that support the government should not cause new complexities that could, in fact, hinder the eradication of major ongoing corruption practices. The uncovering of big corruption cases must continue to go on, including the e-ID case!
