Editorial: Not the Representatives of the Corrupt

By the Kompas Daily Newspaper Editor, 5 July 2017

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Indonesian House of Representatives is certainly not the representatives of the corrupt.

“The Honorable” people’s representatives are paid with the people’s money. The plan of the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry into the Corruption Eradication Commission to go on safari to meet with corruption felons in a number of prisons in Indonesia has deeply unsettled the sense of justice of citizens, the taxpayers.

As stated by Deputy Chairman of the House Inquiry Committee Rep. Risa Mariska (PDI-P-West Java),¹ “the Committee wants to uncover information on how they felt while they were witnesses, suspects, and convicts of corruption cases.” Risa is a Representative for the electoral district of West Java VI, covering the regencies of Bogor and Bekasi. She received 25,578 votes.

It is very easy to meet corruption convicts in prison. They will be very happy, overjoyed even, to tell the House Inquiry Committee about how the Corruption Eradication Commission behaved when they were questioned, while they were in custody, about their beliefs that they are the victims of conspiracies, their feelings of being entrapped, and any amount of other inhuman treatment.

With that data, the House Inquiry Committee, being driven by a coalition of parties that support the government, will gain ammunition to dismantle the anti-corruption body. The aim of the House Committee at the very least can be read from the statement of House Deputy Speaker Rep. Fahri Hamzah (PKS-West Nusa Tenggara)² from the Welfare Justice Party³ House faction, and it is to review state commissions such as the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Reviewing is equivalent to disbanding the Corruption Eradication Commission, limiting the Commission’s authority, or transforming the Commission into an ad hoc agency.

The actual target of the House Inquiry Committee can be read, and it is to emasculate the Corruption Eradication Commission. The declaration of some politicians that the House Committee is intended to strengthen the Commission does not have a shred of empirical evidence.

From the beginning, a number of House of Representatives politicians have been agitated by steps taken by the Commission to erase corruption from this country. There are Representatives on trial, as well as party chairmen and business people who have been arrested. The Corruption Eradication Commission is indeed not without fault. However, the way to fix these mistakes is not to exercise the House of Representatives’ right to establish committees of inquiry the legitimacy of which continues to be problematic.

Members of the House Inquiry Committee have to realize they are the representatives of the people, not the representatives of the corrupt. Corrupt behavior by members of the government has resulted in violations of the civil and economic rights of the people. The behavior of constitutional judges who trade in Constitutional Court decisions to enrich themselves is a betrayal of the law. It is the victims of this corrupt behavior that the House Inquiry Committee should be listening to, not those who are corrupt.

Unfortunately, President Joko Widodo’s narrative has been too impoverished to defend the Corruption Eradication Commission. President Widodo has only said that he wants to strengthen the Commission. However, apparently President Widodo cannot interfere with the House Inquiry because it is a constitutional right of the House of Representatives. The fact is that the direction taken by the House Inquiry Committee can only be read as intended to de-legitimizing the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Source: Tajuk Rencana Bukan Perwakilan Koruptor. 

Featured image credits Detik Ini 17 Tahun yang Lalu Reformasi Dimulai and Masinton Ungkap Proses Konsolidasi Mahasiswa Untuk Jatuhkan Soeharto. Members of the House of Representatives http://www.dpr.go.id/anggota.

Tweets by KompasTV

1. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komisi_III_Dewan_Perwakilan_Rakyat_Republik_Indonesia ↩︎
2. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahri_Hamzah; https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20170814130329-32-234578/johannes-marliem-tewas-fahri-minta-kpk-setop-kasus-e-ktp ↩︎
3. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewan_Perwakilan_Rakyat_Daerah_Provinsi; https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partai_Keadilan_Sejahtera; https://pks.id/ ↩︎