President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) Joko Widodo has approved the Revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission (RUK KPK) Law. The approval was delivered through Jokowi’s Presidential Letter Number R-42 / Pres / 09/2019 explaining that the President assigned the Minister of Law and Human Rights and the Minister of Administrative Reform and Bureaucracy Reform to discuss the revision of the KPK Law with the DPR.

There are a number of points approved by Jokowi, points that were agreed upon including the first being the Supervisory Board. Jokowi agreed with the KPK Supervisory Board. He promised that the Supervisory Board would not be filled with politicians, but academics and anti-corruption activists.

With the approval of the formation of the Supervisory Board, this will increase the length of the bureaucracy in handling cases, because a number of cases handling needs must be licensed by the Supervisory Board, such as: wiretapping, search and seizure.

The second is SP3 Authority. Jokowi considered that the KPK’s authority to stop cases through SP3 was needed. However, Jokowi wants the SP3 authority limit revised by the KPK Law to be set for 1 year to be increased to 2 years.

So far the KPK in establishing a case of investigation went through a very careful process because there was no stopping the investigation and prosecution. Through these provisions will reduce the KPK standard in handling cases.

The third is the KPK Employee ASN Status. Jokowi agreed that the KPK employees had the status of ASN. He stressed that the KPK investigators and investigators currently in office were still in office and following the transition process to ASN.

This risks the independence of employees who handle corruption cases in government agencies.

The points agreed by Jokowi will potentially weaken the work of the KPK, including in the natural resources sector. As is the case with the state losses caused by forest and land fires (karhutla) that occurred in a number of regions in Indonesia. One of the factors underlying the forest and land fires is corruption. It takes a long time to handle this case. If the KPK’s authority is limited in the matter of thoroughly investigating the case, it is feared that it will weaken the work of the KPK.

Reference sources:
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