Legislator Says Corruption Crackdowns Losing Deterrent Effect as 11 Regional Heads Caught in Sting Operations

Eleven regional heads have been caught in sting operations (OTT) by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). House of Representatives (DPR) Commission II member Ahmad Irawan of the Golkar Party highlighted that state officials are being exposed to a corrupt culture and that enforcement appears to have lost its deterrent effect.

“In my opinion, no one is born with a tendency to commit corruption. So, if we want to talk about prevention, the focus must be on the system and the environment. Many corruption perpetrators, I suspect, are exposed to the corrupt culture itself,” Irawan told reporters on Thursday (23/7/2026).

He believes the state must create policies that prevent officials from being tempted to engage in corruption. He also touched on the issue of regional heads’ salaries.

“The state must make good and correct policies, implement a merit system, provide sufficient income, and so on. We still have many shortcomings, and we all understand and realise that,” he said.

According to him, the strategy for eradicating corruption needs to shift from merely prioritising prosecution to strengthening prevention. On the other hand, Ahmad acknowledged that enforcement remains necessary. However, he argued that the deterrent effect on corruption perpetrators needs to be strengthened because it is currently perceived to be diminishing.

“Current enforcement seems to have lost its deterrent effect. Prevention and enforcement are only effective if they create a deterrent effect and make others afraid to commit the same act,” he said.

He also proposed that the model for corruption enforcement be directed more towards asset recovery. Furthermore, legal certainty must be reinforced so that administrative errors are not immediately criminalised as acts of corruption.

“Administrative errors should not be directly considered corruption. So, mens rea must be proven,” he concluded.