Lawsuit by Former Employees Over TWK During Firli Era Granted, KPK Responds
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has responded to a ruling by the Central Information Commission (KIP) panel that partially granted a petition by former KPK employees who fell victim to the National Insight Test (TWK) conducted during the tenure of Firli Bahuri as part of the civil service transition process.
KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto said he would forward the ruling to the KPK’s legal bureau for review.
“I will pass this on to the legal bureau, to the Secretary-General and the legal bureau, to conduct an assessment first, to study what has been conveyed and the findings. That is my initial response for now,” Setyo told reporters at the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform building in South Jakarta on Tuesday (24 February).
Previously, the KIP panel declared that TWK documents constitute partially open information, meaning petitioners may obtain access to them provided the names of assessors are redacted, in accordance with the information access mechanism under Article 22(7)(e) of the KIP Act in conjunction with Articles 50(2) and (3) of the KIP Regulation on Public Information Service Standards (Perki SLIP).
“The information requested by the Petitioners as referred to in paragraph 4.28 is declared Partially Open Information solely for the Petitioners, provided it does not contain personal information of other parties as outlined in Article 17(h)(4) and (5) of the KIP Act,” said KIP Panel Chair Rospita Vici Paulyn when reading out the verdict of dispute number 043/XI/KIP-PS/2021 at Wisma BSG Annex Building in Central Jakarta on Monday (23 February).
The KIP panel annulled the classification issued by the Information and Documentation Management Officer (PPID) of the National Civil Service Agency (BKN) under Decree Number 2 of 2021 on the Classification of Exempted Information.
The panel ordered BKN to provide the requested information to the Petitioners as referred to in paragraph 6.3, solely to the Petitioners, in accordance with the information provision mechanism under Article 22(7)(e) of the KIP Act in conjunction with Articles 50(2) and (3) of Perki SLIP — specifically by redacting or obscuring exempted material concerning personal information of other parties.
“The Respondent (BKN) is ordered to provide the information requested by the Petitioners as referred to in paragraph 6.4 after this ruling has acquired permanent legal force (inkracht van gewijsde), with copying costs borne by the Petitioners,” the judge said.
Indonesia Memanggil (IM57+) Institute chairman Lakso Anindito explained that the legal action before the KIP was part of a broader advocacy effort to reinstate 57 former employees to the KPK.
“Through this ruling, it should be increasingly clear that there is no reason to delay the reinstatement of the 57 employees to the KPK by the President,” he stressed.
Another TWK victim and IM57+ Institute co-founder, Mochamad Praswad Nugraha, added that the partial granting of the petition by the KIP panel was not merely an administrative victory but a moment of historical correction.
Praswad stated that all state institutions involved in the implementation of the TWK are obligated to comply with and execute the KIP ruling. The verdict, he said, is clear and firm: assessment documents that had been kept secret must be disclosed to the victims. Praswad said there is no longer any room for delay, evasion, or narrow interpretation of this legal obligation.
“Today’s KIP hearing is the last hope for us, the TWK victims, in seeking justice. For five years, we have been labelled, stigmatised, and treated as though we were the guilty parties. This ruling affirms that the right to information and the right to self-defence must not be stripped away in the name of anything,” Praswad said.