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Stay the Course in Fighting Graft: UN
Nivell Rayda | July 03, 2009

Dozens of university students from the Indonesian Executive Agency held a rally at the Corruption Eradication Commission in Jakarta on Thursday. They used blood from their fingers to sign a pledge declaring their willingness to support the KPK in battling corruption. (Photo: Afriadi Hikmal, JG) Dozens of university students from the Indonesian Executive Agency held a rally at the Corruption Eradication Commission in Jakarta on Thursday. They used blood from their fingers to sign a pledge declaring their willingness to support the KPK in battling corruption. (Photo: Afriadi Hikmal, JG)
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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime expressed concern on Thursday that the fight against corruption in Indonesia would deteriorate in the wake of several attempts to limit the powers of the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Amit Joy, the head of the UNODC office in Jakarta, was commenting on the slow deliberation at the House of Representatives of the much anticipated Anti-Corruption Court bill, as well as comments made last week by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that have been interpreted as a desire to check the power of the commission, also known as the KPK.

In an interview with Kompas newspaper founder Jacob Oetama, Yudhoyono reportedly said the KPK “has become a huge power holder, responsible only to God. Power must not go unchecked.”

“Indonesia must step up its commitment to the UNCAC treaty,” Joy told the Jakarta Globe, referring to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which Indonesia signed in 2006 and ratified in 2007. “Indonesia has a long road ahead in its fight against corruption, and all aspects of society, the government and members of the parliament, must work together. Indonesia needs a more solid [anticorruption] legal basis and more key weapons.”

Joy said the KPK and the Anti-Corruption Court were indispensable institutions. The court has a 100 percent success rate in putting corrupt officials behind bars, including eight current and former lawmakers.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2006 that the court lacked a solid legal foundation and ordered that it be disbanded unless a new law was drawn up before Dec. 19 this year.

“Like in so many countries, the fight against corruption would meet strong rejection from corrupt officials and executives, especially when corruption is so rampant in that country,” Joy said.

“It is important that Indonesia battle all efforts to hamper the fight against corruption, because it is an extraordinary crime. It breeds activities like illegal logging, human and drug trafficking and other organized crimes.”

Amien Sunaryadi, a senior official at the World Bank and a former KPK deputy, said that the commission was created “to curb an already dangerous level of corruption.”

“We need the KPK to be draconian and ruthless to those who are corrupt if we are ever going to eradicate graft in the country,” Amien said. “If corruption has dropped significantly, then we can talk about steadily limiting the KPK’s authority.”