The polemic began when the Corruption Eradication Commission Law (UU KPK) was revised, causing the Indonesian people and anti-corruption activists to take to the streets to fight and challenge this.

The promulgation of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law means that the Indonesian people’s trust in the Jokowi-Maruf Amin government is slowly showing a decline, although it is not significant. The process carried out to revise the law seemed rushed and forced to be ratified immediately and there was very little input from the public, especially anti-corruption activists.

The KPK supervisory board is one of the important points that is a problem in the latest KPK Law. Looking at the dynamics that have occurred so far, is it true that the Jokowi-Maruf Amin government still holds firm in continuing to provide support for the eradication of corruption in this country?

If we look back at the time of the presidential election campaign for these two pairs of candidates, it was stated that Jokowi and Amin would promise to enforce a legal system that was free of corruption, dignified, and trustworthy.

By looking at the promises that have been made and what has happened, of course, the public is questioning the commitment of President Jokowi and the Vice President-elect to eradicating corruption in Indonesia. Moreover, President Jokowi once promised to strengthen the Corruption Eradication Commission, but the government has apparently “approved” the new Corruption Eradication Commission Law so that President Jokowi’s reputation is at stake not only at home but abroad as well.

I quote a statement from Laode M Syarif, the former deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, he stated that “when the process is kept secret in the revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law and the ears are closed to the input and pure intentions of the country’s children, what is born is chaos”.

What he said became a reality by seeing the reaction of the Indonesian people who stated that they no longer believed in the government and gave rise to demonstrations almost throughout the country, giving rise to a sense of distrust in the government and the leaders in the KPK.

The problem did not stop and end there, a new problem emerged, namely when the new Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Committee stated that there were 36 cases of suspected corruption whose investigation had been stopped. In this case, the Corruption Eradication Commission stated that the case that was stopped was related to investigations at the Ministry, BUMN, DPRD, and DPR.

Of course, this is not a strange thing for the Corruption Eradication Commission, but it will become strange when the termination of the 36 cases is announced and stated in public and the public will question this. Even if the reason for stopping the case was simply a lack of evidence, the investigation into so many cases was “suddenly” stopped, of course, this would bring a nightmare to the eradication of corruption in this country and this could be a “blunder” for the Corruption Eradication Commission itself over this incident.

The integrity of the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) will be questioned as one of the corruption eradication institutions that has been given the mandate by the people to monitor and clean up corruptors from this country.

Next, the Corruption Eradication Committee must explain in detail what cases, where, and who were stopped what is the legal basis for why the case had to be stopped just like that, and how the law will be enforced next. Don’t let other cases slowly get the same treatment, but if this happens the death knell for eradicating corruption will have already occurred.

Don’t let the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which has been trusted and given the “spirit” by the Indonesian people to oversee and be the front guard in eradicating corruption, which was declared a corruption eradication commission, turn into a case termination commission. Of course, the termination of the cases mentioned above was following applicable procedures and did not violate the law or even become a “trust” by uninterested individuals.

With the myriad of problems being faced by the Corruption Eradication Commission, of course, there is still great hope placed on the Corruption Eradication Commission by the public to continue working professionally in handling existing corruption cases without discrimination and being selective in their handling.

The Indonesian people still have very high trust in the Corruption Eradication Commission if the Corruption Eradication Commission works to continue pursuing corruptors who are still at large and resolve cases which are still ongoing.

Only by doing this can we restore the trust of the Indonesian people in the Corruption Eradication Committee. If this cannot be done, of course, the public will be disappointed with the performance of the Corruption Eradication Committee leadership and ask the government to continue to remain committed to eradicating corruption so that it can minimize the occurrence of corruption in Indonesia.

Writer: Dr. Dewa Gede Sudika Mangku, S.H., LL.M

(Chair of the Law and Citizenship Department, FHIS Undiksha and Head of the Anti-Corruption Study Center Undiksha)