Hinca Responds to Jokowi's Claim He Did Not Sign Revised KPK Law
Member of House Commission III Hinca Panjaitan has taken issue with former President Joko Widodo’s statement that the revision of Law Number 19 of 2019 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK Law) was merely a House of Representatives (DPR) initiative.
He said that in the process of drafting or amending legislation, the DPR cannot work alone without the approval and representation of the government to conduct deliberations.
“Pak Jokowi’s reason that he did not sign it is simply not true,” Hinca said at the DPR, MPR and DPD complex on Monday, 23 February 2026.
He explained that, in principle and in accordance with prevailing legislation, a law takes effect 30 days after its ratification regardless of whether the president has signed it or not.
Hinca instead drew attention to Jokowi’s failure to fulfil his obligation to sign the revised KPK Law. He noted that deliberations would not have commenced without the dispatch of a presidential letter.
“If he then says he disagreed because he did not sign it, that means he [Jokowi] reneged on his obligation,” said the Democrat Party politician.
Previously, Jokowi stated that he supported the proposal to restore the KPK Law to its pre-2019 revision version. He considered the proposal by former KPK chairman Abraham Samad to be a good one.
However, he said that although he was president at the time the DPR revised the KPK Law, he did not append his signature to the legislation.
“That [revision] was a DPR initiative at the time, it was on the DPR’s initiative,” Jokowi said after watching a football match between Persis Solo and Madura United at Manahan Stadium, Solo, on Friday, 13 February 2026.
Meanwhile, Commission III member Nasyirul Falah Amru said Jokowi’s statement was nothing more than an attempt to deflect responsibility. Under the prevailing rules, Jokowi as president had a role in the deliberation process.
“There is a presidential letter dated 11 September 2019,” Falah said in a written statement on Monday, 16 February 2026.
In that letter, he explained, Jokowi instructed the Minister of Law and Human Rights and the Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform to represent the government in deliberating the KPK Law revision with the DPR.
Falah said that on 17 September 2019, during the decision-making phase, the government — represented by the Law and Human Rights Minister — stated that the president had agreed to the KPK Law revision.
“So it is quite absurd for Jokowi to then claim this revision was a DPR initiative. It is like passing a hot potato,” said the PDI-P politician.