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