Anticorruption

Anticorruption
Commission

I can't help wondering about the news that the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the government have reached an
agreement to merge the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission
(KPKPN) with the soon-to-be established anticorruption
commission. It was announced at a time when the KPKPN was
starting to pave the way in helping eradicate corruption in this
country and showing significant progress in investigating the
wealth of government officials.

I share the views of Todung Mulya Lubis and Hendardi, who said
that the incorporation of KPKPN into the anticorruption
commission would mean a step backward in the effort to eradicate
corruption because the proposed commission has yet to be
established and would have to start from the very beginning,
whereas KPKPN has started investigating the officials' wealth.

We can learn a lesson from a similar commission that in early
2000 had a joint team established for the eradication of
corruption, which, until its dissolution in early 2002, came up
with nothing in terms of investigating, prosecuting and taking
corruptors to court.

My suggestion therefore is that members of the DPR must be
broad-minded in their way of thinking rather than showing their
arrogance (to quote Hendardi's words) and leave the KPKPN and the
anticorruption commission to work on their own.

The reason is that the function of the KPKPN is to investigate
the wealth of officials. And if there are indications of
misappropriation of state funds, it is the task of the
anticorruption commission to prosecute them.

M. RUSDI, Jakarta