Who is Trying to Kill The KPK?

(published by The Jakarta Post on 14 Nov 2009. Click here)

If I were a corrupt official, of course I would want the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to die. If the KPK institutionally cannot be "killed", I would try, at the minimum, to weaken its power and damage its reputation. Losing the public trust will make the KPK equal to a toothless tiger because trust is its lethal weapon. As the public desperately hopes for the KPK to crush the chronic corruption in this country, the KPK has been expected to be an angel who can do no wrong.

The KPK has been becoming a frightening specter that constantly haunts those who are corrupt. This is a very serious menace that ensures that the rats (read: corruptors) never sleep in their nest peacefully. The superpower body has been successfully throwing corrupt officials in jail since the body formed.

However, the success has not been without consequences. The more corrupt officials that are sent to jail, the more enemies the KPK creates, because corrupt officials in Indonesia are countless. All of those, of course, expect the KPK to die.

In opposite, the KPK has become a superhero for those who revolt against corruption, because the long-running practice has damaged the Indonesian country both economically and morally. We saw transparently the so-called morality of high-ranking government officials, the lawmakers and the law enforcers who were meant to uphold the law and justice.

When money can buy everything, law is absolutely nothing. We saw the decay of morality through the wiretapped conversation between someone suspected to be Anggodo Widjojo, the brother of fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, and several high-ranking officials that were publicly revealed in the Constitutional Court (MK). In the hearing, obviously the law was in Anggodo's hands. He was seen as more powerful than those who supposedly upheld the law. He made all arrangements and the officials nodded. That horrific scene was nakedly and publicly published. I am hoping it wasn't true. I am hoping the scene was just a soap opera or a mafia movie.

Suppose the wiretapped conversation was authentic; that it was Anggodo who easily orchestrated the music and asked the elite figures to perform this dirty dancing? The criminal's relative conspired with brokers and the law enforcers to criminalize anti-graft fighters Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah. This is a country where we live, where money is power. The corrupt officials let themselves be slaves to serve those who pay. Is it obvious that money is the root of evil? No, but loving money is.

It is okay to charge Bibit and Chandra with abuse of power and bribery. Let's give the police the opportunity to prove it. But the more important thing is, whether Bibit and Chandra are innocent or guilty as accused by the police, that the goal to eradicate corruption is in danger after a series of attempts to damage public trust in the KPK. Indeed, the perfect way to shoot enemies is by using their own bullets. So the perfect way to shoot corruption fighters is by corruption allegations, too.

I am grateful for the massive support that has been shown by the public to save the KPK, regardless of whether Bibit and Chandra are guilty or not. Some people have joined street demonstrations, some others have expressed their protest with hunger strikes, and others have given support via internet campaigns. As of today, the number of Facebookers who have committed to stand by Bibit and Chandra has reached 1 million as targeted by the initiator.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) should thank the KPK and stand on as the vanguard to save the KPK, because one of key reasons people revoted for him was his corruption-eradicating efforts. People expect SBY to show the same commitment today.

Money can buy the law, but not justice.

***
Serpong, 6 Nov 2009
Titus J.