Saturday, October 31, 2009

Eradication of KPK

" Power Tends To Corrupt, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely " those were the words of British Historian Lord Acton, which implies that the leader of a country play a significant role in the fight against corruption.

That's probably what's in the minds of those who were concerned on the creation of a Grand Coalition that controlled more than 75% of the seats in the House of Representative (DPR) to support the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY).

I tried to deny such allegation, not only because I voted for SBY and his Democrat Party during the last elections, but also because I thought Indonesia needs a very strong leadership fully supported by all political powers.
My reason was because SBY has shown his determination to fight corruption, which can be seen from his refusal to intervene in the indictment by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) against his son's father in law and the court verdict that sentenced him to prison.

But unfortunately, efforts to eradicate corruption seems to be still very far away from what I expected. Especially after two of KPK's Vice Chairmen i.e. Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah were charged by the Police for prohibiting two Corruption Suspects Djoko Tjandra and Anggoro Widjaja from going abroad. Doubts surmounted after both KPK officials were detained by the Police, one of the reason was that they have been giving press conference.
This Police action was strongly protested by many people who suspect efforts to make KPK criminals and demand the release of both gentlemen, which forced SBY to give press conference saying that he will not interfere the investigation, and tried to assure public that he will defend KPK.

Many public figures, including KPK leaders, former president Gus Dur, former Chief of the Constitutional Court Jimly Assidiquie and many others requested the release of both KPK leaders and gave their personal guarantee that they will not runaway. Beside that, supports for both KPK leaders are shown in the online networking media Facebook and Twitter.

For details, please click here, here, here, here, and here.

In spite of the above, I am not sure whether KPK is now in the process of eradication, but I know one thing for sure that this case has over shadowed (stopped?) KPK's investigation of the mysterious Rp 6.7 Trillion Bank Century case.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done Harry for highlighting this. I am terribly afraid your suspicions, and therefore you disappointments, are right.

Unknown said...

Duckham,
What bothers me most is that there are so many other people who are similarly suspicious & disappointed.

colson said...

It is worrying indeed. Whatever the outcome, it's damaging to both the president's image and the efficiency and effectiveness of KPK.

Since your comment on the subject ( Minisiter Sri and the Bank) I've been trying to gather the facts. It is huge, complex and confusing however. To me it starts to look like an Indonesian Watergate: to reveal what really is going on behind the apparently obvious facts and the smokescreens, will take at least one reliable "deeptroat" and investigative journalists like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

But at the present stage I think it essentially is a struggle between the Dinosaurs of the old regime ( the Suharto era) and the new style politics.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Unknown said...

Colson.
Speaking of Indonesian Watergate, several members of the House of Representatives is preparing inquiry session on Bank Century case. But it is difficult to realize considering the government control more than 75% of House's seats.
Many people are predicting the possible return to the Soeharto era.

dallco said...

wah ada artikel politik nih.....salam kenal brro

Unknown said...

Dallco,

Terima kasih. Senang sekali berkenalan dengan anda.