Public Takes Part in Responsibility

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The community is partly responsible for the selection of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership candidates, as community participation in the selection process is needed.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The community is responsible for the selection of candidates for Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership. They need to participate in monitoring and tracing the track records of candidates. At the same time, the KPK Leadership Selection Committee (Pansel) must also seriously allow for public input tools, so as to be able to produce KPK leaders who can strengthen corruption eradication.

Registration for KPK leader candidates for the 2019-2023 term closed on July 4. A total of 384 people registered. Of that number, most are academics and advocates. Through to July 10 July, Pansel will administratively select the candidates. The names of the candidates who qualify for this stage will be announced on July 11.

In line with the announcement, a member of Pansel, Hendardi, said in Jakarta, Friday (7/7/2019) that the committee began to assign a team to assess the track record of the candidates who passed the administrative selection process. Involved in this assignment are various agencies and those who conduct interviews at the candidates’ work environments.

During this time, the public can also provide input on the candidates via a special site or by electronic mail.

"Positive and negative input will be accepted. Please, [participate] for the community. Anything being given will be noted and become a consideration to determine the candidate," said Hendardi.

Moreover, to provide space for community participation, Pansel is also designing a public test process to check the capabilities of potential candidates. This public test will be a new stage in the selection process for KPK leadership.

According to the chairperson of Pansel, Yenti Garnasih, the committee was still considering the concept of public testing, whether in the form of open interviews involving panelists or the media. Yenti ensured that the community would be involved regardless of the format of the public test. This public testing stage will be followed by a competency test, psychological test and profile assessment.

Community collaboration

Several civil society groups began to prepare collaborative work to oversee the KPK\'s achievements. According to Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Donal Fariz, who is also part of the Civil Society Coalition, collaboration always occurs in selecting KPK leadership candidates, which happens every four years.

The Civil Society Coalition will use three indicators to trace the candidates’ track records, namely capacity, integrity and commitment to strengthening the KPK. This search is not only done based on data, but also by deploying people directly to the field.

The involvement of the public in reviewing the track record and integrity of the KPK leadership candidates is considered necessary in finding the best candidates.

Chairman of the Gadjah Mada University Anti-Corruption Study Center Oce Madril, when contacted from Jakarta, said public input was crucial because, as the tests were both formal and informal, more was revealed about a candidate.

"What is assessed in terms of integrity and track record are matters that go beyond legal records. Here, community participation is very important to explore the integrity and track record of the candidates. Informal information from the public must be strengthened by Pansel and made the fulcrum in assessing the track records and integrity of the candidates," Oce said.

Meanwhile, in terms of the vision of eradicating corruption, the candidates are expected to have a strong commitment, both in prosecution and prevention. Parahyangan University criminal law expert Agustinus Pohan said that although prevention was better than prosecution, this did not mean that prosecution could be ignored. (IAN/ REK/ SHR)

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