Central Java Governor Ahmad Luthfi: Integrity Is Hard When One's Mind Is Stubborn
Central Java Governor Ahmad Luthfi has said that building integrity among public officials is not easy, especially if the person concerned has a stubborn nature. He made the statement after attending a corruption prevention coordination meeting attended by several institutions, including the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), at the Gradhika Bhakti Praja Building in Semarang on Thursday (20/8/2026).
Luthfi said that besides the KPK, the meeting was also attended by all regents and mayors across Central Java. Also present were the Vice Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, KGPAA Paku Alam X, and his staff. Representatives from other institutions such as LKPP and BPKP also attended the meeting.
“This is an effort to ensure that Central Java, Yogyakarta, and all of Indonesia truly create individuals and characters who genuinely have integrity, so that the crime of corruption is eliminated. Having integrity is not easy, because one’s words, actions, and thoughts must be aligned, namely free from corruption,” Luthfi told journalists.
According to him, integrity ultimately comes back to the official concerned. “Everything comes back to the individual, because unlawful acts belong to whoever commits them. So it depends on the person. That is why if someone’s mind is stubborn, we cannot remind them, integrity cannot be instilled, then let them be removed by those who have the authority,” Luthfi said.
Throughout 2026, five regents in Central Java have been caught in KPK sting operations. They are the regents of Pati, Pekalongan, Cilacap, Sukoharjo, and Pemalang. Central Java is currently the province with the highest number of regional heads caught by the anti-corruption agency.
“This coordination meeting is being held because, as we know, we are quite concerned that recently there have been frequent sting operations involving several regional heads,” said Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Akhmad Wiyagus at the same press conference at the Gradhika Bhakti Praja Building.
He added that the series of sting operations targeting regional heads prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs to collaborate with the KPK and several other institutions such as LKPP and BPKP to provide guidance and outreach on corruption prevention efforts.
Wiyagus said that during the meeting, KPK representatives, for example, presented material on corruption prevention based on risk mapping. BPKP provided understanding on improving the capacity of government internal oversight apparatus. Representatives from the Directorate of Regional Autonomy at the Ministry of Home Affairs then explained the guidance and supervision of regional government administration.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs is present together with other institutions collaboratively, such as the KPK, LKPP, and BPKP, to jointly provide reinforcement on the importance of integrity, especially for regional heads, in managing regional budgets in their respective areas. It is hoped that with this activity there will be no more regional heads with legal problems that fall into the realm of corruption,” Wiyagus said.
He said that corruption prevention coordination meetings will be held in ten clusters across Indonesia. “The first was in Papua, then the second in East Java, last week in South Kalimantan. Today we are in Central Java Province, and next there are still six more provinces, such as West Sumatra, North Sumatra, then NTB and others,” he said.