BPK opposes new member selection process
Tony Hotland, Jakarta
A senior board member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has criticized the ongoing selection of the agency's new board members at the House of Representatives, saying that the process violated the Constitution.
BPK deputy chairman Bambang Triadji said on Friday that the selection process should have been put off until the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) was formed. The DPD, whose members were elected on April 5, is scheduled to be set up in September.
He said that BPK would consider filing an objection at the Constitutional Court.
"The amended Constitution says BPK members are selected by the House of Representatives with consideration from the DPD, before being presented to the President, who will pick among those selected by the House," Bambang said, referring to chapter VIIIA Article 23f (1).
The House is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting to discuss the candidates for BPK board members on Monday. The House's Commission IX on financial affairs has picked 21 of the 40 names proposed by House factions to fill seven posts at the agency. The president will finally select one name for each post.
Among those on the shortlist are the Central Bank's Senior Deputy Governor Anwar Nasution, former president of state-owned firm Pertamina Baihaki Hakim, House member Abdullah Zainie, and current BPK member Mukrom As'ad.
Bambang, who was among the 40 but not among the 21, also said that the interview/screening process had not been comprehensive because only few commission members were present. "Only eight members were present during my interview, out of the actual 56 commission members. I heard (BPK member) Bambang Wahyudi was interviewed by just three members. How could they (absent commission members) make a judgment on a candidate, if they weren't even there?" he said.
Commission head Emir Moeis previously said the 21 names were selected through a vote instead of a scoring system based on the interviews.
Bambang added that such a screening process should have been conducted by an independent team, rather than the commission, in view of the fact that some members of the commission were among the 41 candidates.
Commission deputy Paskah Suzetta insisted, however, that there were no legal errors made during the selection process.
"The addendum to the amended Constitution says all decisions must refer to the existing law until a new law to replace the old one is enacted. Besides, the current BPK board members are no longer legitimate because their term expired last year. They're still in their posts because of a presidential decree," Paskah explained to The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
BPK Law No. 5/1973 stipulates that BPK members are proposed by the House before being selected by the president.
He added that it was the commission's policy to form teams consisting of eight members to interview each candidate. "Do you expect all 56 Commission IX members to stay there day and night? It is sufficient that the teams report the results to all the other members," he said.
Paskah also explained that the candidates from the commission itself were not allowed to be present during the interviews of other candidates and were not entitled to cast their votes.
Four commission members participated in the selection and all of them were put on the shortlist.