Corruption Eradication Commission

Background

Anti-corruption efforts began in Indonesia in the 1950s. Following strong criticism of corruption at the beginning of the New Order regime in the late 1960s a Commission of Four was appointed by president Suharto in 1970.^[4] The report of the commission noted that corruption was "rampant" but none of the cases it said were in need of urgent action were followed up on.^[5] Laws were only passed in 1999 giving the Indonesian National Police and Attorney General of Indonesia the authority to investigate corruption cases.^[6]

Establishment

The KPK was created in 2003 during the Megawati presidency due to high corruption in the Post-Suharto era. Law No.30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission was passed in 2002, providing a legal basis for the establishment of the KPK.^[7][8] Since then, the commission has engaged in significant work, revealing and prosecuting cases of corruption in crucial government bodies reaching as high as the Supreme Court.^[9][10][11]

Independent from influence

The KPK was originally independent and free from the influence of any power in carrying out its duties and authorities.^[3] However, in 2019, the Indonesian legislature passed a bill removing many of the KPK's powers and making its employees civil servants, effectively ending its independence.

"Gecko vs crocodile" dispute

In April 2009, angry that the KPK had tapped his phone while investigating a corruption case, Indonesian Police chief detective Susno Duadji compared the KPK to a gecko (Indonesian: cicak) fighting a crocodile (Indonesian: buaya), the police. Susno's comment, as it turned out, quickly backfired because the image of a cicak standing up to a buaya (similar to David and Goliath imagery) immediately had wide appeal in Indonesia. A noisy popular movement in support of the cicak quickly emerged. Students staged pro-cicak demonstrations, many newspapers ran cartoons with cicaks lining up against an ugly buaya, and numerous TV talk shows took up the cicak versus buaya topic with enthusiasm ^[22]

As a result, references to cicaks fighting a buaya have become a well-known part of the political imagery of Indonesia.^[23] In September, two KPK deputy chairmen Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, who had been suspended in July, were arrested on charges of extortion and bribery. The two men denied the charges, saying they were being framed to weaken the KPK.^[24]

There were demonstrations in several cities in support of the men and a support campaign on the Facebook social networking site gathered one million members. On 2 November 2009, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono established a team to look into the allegations. The following day, during a hearing at the Indonesian Constitutional Court, dramatic tapes were played of bugged phone conversations apparently revealing a conspiracy to undermine the KPK.^[25]

The names of businessman Susno Duadji as well as Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga and a businessman, Anggodo Widjojo, were mentioned in the tapes. Bibit and Chandra were released later the same day.^[26][27][28]

The team established by the president, the "Team of Eight", presented its recommendations on 17 November 2009. These included a halt to the prosecution of Bibit and Chandra, punishment for officials guilty of wrongdoing and the establishment of a state commission to implement institutional reforms of law enforcement agencies. The president said he would respond within the week.^[29]

On 23 November 2009, President Yudhoyono made a speech responding to the Team of Eight's findings. He said that it would be better if the Bibit-Chandra case were settled out of court but did not call for the case to be dropped. He also said there was a need for reforms within the Indonesian National Police, the Attorney General's office and the KPK. His speech caused confusion among Team of Eight members and provoked a protest from activists who symbolically threw in their towels as a way of criticising what they judged to be the president's unconvincing response.^[30] On 3 December 2009, President Yudhoyono was officially informed that charges against Bibit and Chandra had been dropped.^[31][32][33]

Trial of Antasari Azhar

On 10 November, at the trial of KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who had been arrested in May for allegedly organising the murder of a businessman, former South Jakarta police chief Williardi Wizard testified that senior police officers had asked him to help them frame Azhari.^[34]

Arrest of Bambang Widjojanto

The arrest of KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto by Indonesian Police on 23 January 2015 revived the "gecko vs crocodile" dispute. The arrest was made after the commission declared the parliament-approved candidate for the chief of Indonesian Police Budi Gunawan a suspect in a gratification case on 14 February, just days before his scheduled inauguration.^[35]

The Indonesian public saw the arrest as an attack against KPK, and there was immediate support for the KPK. Immediately after the news of his arrest broke, various groups demonstrating in front of KPK headquarters in South Jakarta to show support for the organization.^[36]

Netizens also created the hashtag #SaveKPK and it emerged as a worldwide trending topic on social media Twitter.^[37]

Revision of the KPK Law

On 17 September 2019, the People's Representative Council passed a bill revising Law No.30/2002 about Corruption Eradication in the country, which triggered a backlash by people taking the view that the revised bill would weaken the ability of the KPK to operate and perform investigations into corruption cases.^[38] The revised bill was deliberated and passed in only 12 days in the Council. In a statement, the KPK said that it was not involved consulted over in the discussion of the revision.^[39][40]

A series of mass demonstrations led by students took place in major cities of Indonesia from 23 September 2019 to protest against the KPK Law revision, as well as several bills.^[41] The protesters were mainly students from more than 300 universities, and had no association with any particular political parties or groups.^[41]

The protests subsequently developed into the largest student movement in Indonesia since the 1998 demonstrations that brought down the Suharto regime.^[42][43]

Under the revised law, the KPK commissioners had their authority to investigate alleged corruption and to prosecute people reduced. In addition, an oversight council was appointed, which had to approve all wiretapping in advance. Finally, as a result of the revised law, all KPK staff had to take a nationalism test, which 75 failed, making them eligible for dismissal. The remaining staff lost their independent status and were sworn in as civil servants on 31 May 2021. Among those failing was senior investigator Novel Baswedan, who had handled a number of cases involving senior government officials and police officers. He was dismissed on 30 September 2021, along with 57 other staff members.^[44][45]