The Public Conscience is Disturbed

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees together with anticorruption activists hold a theatrical performance symbolizing the KPK\'s "death" at the KPK building, Jakarta, Tuesday (17/9/2019) evening. The action was held in response to the ratification of the new KPK Law by the House of Representatives and the government in a plenary session.

We have seen that the public conscience has been disturbed by the revisions to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP).

As Kompas reported on Wednesday (18/9/2019), civil society is preparing to file a request for judicial review with the Constitutional Court (MK) on the revisions to Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK. The KPK has also formed a team to study the implications of the newly approved revisions to the KPK Law. Many are also criticizing the draft KUHP Bill (RKUHP), on which the House of Representatives and the government have reached agreement.

Regarding the plan to request a judicial review on the revised KPK Law, House Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah said that the House was used to facing such things. He said that calls for judicial review on laws passed by the legislature and the government were nothing special.

If we still believe in the concept of vox populi vox Dei (“the voice of the people is the voice of God”), we must exercise humility and actually listen to these voices. We must not neglect any controversy that exists. However, we can find logic in the people’s arguments in following the news on Wednesday.

Among these is that the revised law substantially weakens the KPK and contradicts the Constitution. The legislature is deemed to have violated procedures in revising the law.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Rows of empty seats fill the House of Representatives plenary meeting on Tuesday (17/9/2019) at the Senayan legislative complex, Jakarta. The legislature passed into law the revision to Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission at the meeting.

Center of Constitutional Studies director Feri Amsari of Andalas University said that all meetings related to the revised KPK Law were closed-door. This violated the principle of transparency as stipulated in Law No. 12/2011 on lawmaking. KPK deputy chair Laode M. Syarif said that the draft KPK Bill that the House and the government passed into law essentially changed the country’s course in corruption eradication. The law had defanged the double-pronged approach of prosecution with prevention.

Coordinator Yati Andriyani of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that the new law could potentially undermine the state’s commitment to protecting civil and political rights, which it had been pursuing for the last 20 years.

The government and the House RKUHP Working Committee have agreed on the final draft of the KUHP Bill and will submit its deliberation results to House Commission III this week. The draft KUHP Bill was also deliberated behind closed doors, showing that the lawmakers have failed in their duty as public representatives.

These closed-door deliberations have produced a draft RKUHP that paves the way for the state to curtail human rights and civil freedoms.

Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) researcher Maidina Rahmawati said that the draft KUHP Bill included non-democratic articles. The closed-door deliberations of the RKUHP and the draft KPK Bill were processes that denied public participation.

As the public has a high interest in the two bills, it is natural that they have objected. The issue is not merely about the lack of public trust in those who produced the bills, but that the processes have inherently given rise to suspicion. Furthermore, in the life of an ideal nation, all legal and political products should possess the quality to reassure the public.