MAKI Urges KPK to Return Yaqut to Prison Cell: It Damages the System!
VIVA – Coordinator of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI), Boyamin Saiman, has urged the KPK to resume the detention of former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and to cancel the transfer of his detention status to house arrest.
In his statement on Sunday, 22 March 2026, Boyamin expressed his disappointment that the KPK had quietly changed Yaqut’s status to house arrest. He also highlighted the possibility that other detainees might make similar demands, which could potentially damage the KPK’s professionalism.
“This will cause systemic damage, where other detainees will demand the same thing, because if not, it would be discrimination. Other detainees will then request transfers to external detention, house arrest, city detention, or whatever it may be,” said Boyamin.
According to Boyamin, the detention carried out by the KPK against corruption suspects has so far been sacred and untouchable. “Now it can be tampered with, and the public might suspect whether there is pressure. If it’s pressure from power, it could be, but if it’s worse, financial pressure, and that is very painful,” he stated.
Boyamin urged the KPK to introspect and immediately re-detain Yaqut at the KPK Detention Centre, because changing the detention status without transparency will damage the system and be counterproductive to anti-corruption efforts. “The KPK must carry out re-detention. The KPK Ethical Panel must investigate allegations of code of ethics violations,” he revealed.
It is known that former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas was reported not to be in the KPK detention centre during the Eid al-Fitr holiday in 2026.
That news was revealed by the wife of the suspect, former Deputy Minister of Manpower Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, namely Silvia Rinita Harefa, regarding former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas not celebrating Eid in state detention.
Silvia is known to have visited her husband on 21 March 2026, who is a suspect in a suspected corruption case in the form of extortion, and conveyed to the journalists waiting for her that there was circulating information among the detainees about Yaqut not being seen in the detention centre.
“Earlier, Gus Yaqut wasn’t seen. The info is, apparently he went out on Thursday night (19/3),” said Silvia.
She received information that Yaqut was also not seen during the Eid al-Fitr prayer on 21 March 2026. “According to people inside, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there,” she said.