Anti-corruption team nearly ready, ICW left off list

A'an Suryana The Jakarta Post Jakarta

A minister said he has provided facilities for a small team set up by the government to select candidates nominated for the Commission for Eradication of Corruption (KPTK) to fulfill the requirements of an anticorruption law.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said here on Thursday that the small team would have a secretariat at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry and other facilities would be given to allow them to complete the selection according to the deadline set by the law.

He made the statement to follow up the issuance of a presidential decree which was signed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Sept. 21, a day before her departure to attend the 58th UN General Assembly in New York.

The team will be headed by Romli Atmasasmita, a senior official at the ministry, with two deputy chairmen, a secretary and ten other members.

The team consists of senior lawyers, legal observers, lecturers, as well as government and police officials. Among noted figures are lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the University of Indonesia, Abdul Gani Abdullah and Insp. Gen. Sukamto, the head of legal division at the National Police headquarters.

The team is expected to complete the selection process within two months so that the commission can start working by Dec. 27 as was regulated by Law No. 30/2002 on anti-corruption.

When Yusril was asked why Teten Masduki, the coordinator of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) was absent from the list, but he claimed that he knew nothing about the list, saying that the decision was in the hands of the President.

Teten has been quite outspoken in exposing corruption cases in recent years.

According to the decree, the team's main tasks will be to register applicants and select ten of them to be submitted to the House of Representatives.

The House will later take only five of the proposed candidates to be sworn in as members of KPTK.

The public has waited a very long time for the establishment of a powerful, independent anti-corruption commission, and many hope it will be able to combat rampant corruption in Indonesia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

According to the law, the commission is supposed to have the full authority to foil corruption cases as well as to file charges against corruption suspects.