Megawati urged to replace Attorney General
The Jakarta Post, A'an Suryana
The prolonged graft investigation implicating Attorney General M.A. Rachman has caused Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration to lose credibility in fighting graft, and therefore, the President should remove him from government.
Noted anticorruption activist Teten Masduki warned Megawati that the investigation against Rachman would drag on, and that it would cost her credibility.
"Rachman has become a liability for Megawati's government. It's better for her to replace him," Teten Masduki, the coordinator of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), told The Jakarta Post.
The Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) is currently investigating Rachman, who had concealed his assets in his report to the agency. Among the assets he concealed was a luxury house in Cinere, Depok.
The case has drawn public criticism as Rachman, as one of the highest law enforcers in the country, is responsible for rooting out corruption in the country.
"If the person who is at the front line of the anticorruption movement is suspected of being corrupt, how can you expect that he will fight against corruption?" Teten said. It was therefore not surprising, he continued, if Rachman was unable to make any headway in prosecuting corruption cases.
He urged KPKPN to investigate how Rachman purchased the Rp 5 billion (US$543,000) house to establish whether Rachman had committed corruption or not.
The KPKPN has vowed to complete the investigation implicating M.A. Rachman before Idul Fitri this year.
KPKPN has also surprised the public by attacking not only Rachman, but also several legislators and other public officials who refused to report their wealth and assets to the agency, as required by law. In doing so, KPKPN quickly became the enemy of many influential people.
Even the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) at the House of Representatives, Roy B. Janis, has accused KPKPN of trespassing its authority.
According to Janis, the commission's authority should be confined only to compiling an inventory of public servants' wealth, and not going so far as to investigate corruption cases.
"It is the police who have the authority to investigate criminal and corruption cases," said Janis, adding that in the Rachman case, it was the police, and not KPKPN, who had the authority to investigate the attorney general.
Attacks against KPKPN also came from legislators, who chided 33 KPKPN members in accepting credit from the government to buy cars. A government loan of Rp 70 million has been allotted to each KPKPN member to purchase a car.
"I question why, in this time of crisis, the commission members accepted the credit facility. They should remember the people who live in poverty," said Susono Yusuf of the National Awakening Party (PKB) at a discussion on Friday.
Coordinator of Government Watch (Gowa) Farid R. Faqih suggested that the commission members return the money to the state because the credit facility was more or less a bribe, and it would affect the commission's performance.
Meanwhile, KPKPN chairman Jusuf Syakir, admitting to receiving the credit, contended that the loans would not affect KPKPN's work and would even enhance their capability.
In addition, he pledged that his commission would improve its performance as a result.
"Becoming the target of criticism has made me more enthusiastic in improving the commission's performance," Jusuf said.