spruiked: jakarta style

a bule perspective: the kpk, news media and why i still love indonesia

The Jakarta Globe, 29 October 2009.

They finally did it. After months of stuffing around with ridiculous allegations that KPK Commissioners Bibit and Chandra "abused" their positions and trying to find evidence of corruption, the Police finally went ahead and committed seppuku* and arrested Bibit and Chandra. For those of you confused by the facts (as we all should be), here is a quick run-down:

• Bibit and Chandra are KPK commissioners. They have lots of enemies in the DPR, Police, Attorney-General's Office and (apparently) the President's office.
• Earlier this year they asked the government to issue travel bans against two men, including a corruption suspect Anggoro. Anggoro is a fugitive, but is believed to be in Singapore. The KPK has the authority to ask for travel bans --- this is clear from the law. The KPK commissioners were acting within their authority.
• The Police claim that the KPK commissioners "abused their power" by issuing the travel bans. No-one is quite sure exactly why the Police think it is a criminal offence to issue travel bans. If the KPK commissioners did something wrong, then it is an administrative matter for the Administrative Court.
• The Police then claimed the KPK commissioners received bribes from Anggoro in return for withdrawing the travel bans. Their key witness is Antasari, the former head of the KPK who is currently under trial for murder. The Police have another "witness", the middleman who is supposed to have paid the bribe.
• Antasari then told everyone that he lied -- and the Police made him do it. The middleman witness has said that he doesn't know who received the money and never met any of the commissioners. One of the commissioners, Bibit, has a solid alibi -- he was in South America when he was supposed to have received the bribe.
• This week a tape-recording was leaked to the press. It is a recording of a conversation between a public prosecutor, the Police and an unknown third party. In the conversation they explain a plot to set up the two KPK commissioners. In the conversation, it is implied that the President knows about this plot. If any of this is true, then it means that the Police have a personal vendetta against the KPK commissioners and (ironically) have abused their power.
• The Police are angry because the KPK commissioners haven't given the tape recording to the Police. They say it's not fair to leak it to the press.
• In the meantime, the President issued a special law firing the KPK commissioners and giving him the authority to appoint his own KPK commissioners (this is called a PERPPU).
• The two KPK commissioners took the matter to the Constitutional Court and asked for an order declaring that the President should not have fired them. The Constitutional Court agreed and yesterday ordered the President not to fire the KPK commissioners. This is very embarrassing for the President, who should know better. It makes it look like he has a personal vendetta against the KPK commissioners.
• The Police finally arrested the KPK commissioners and charged them for "abuse of power" --- but not with receiving bribes.

As you can see, this is a very complex case, with all sorts of political and constitutional issues. Unfortunately, this means that the central issue has kind of been lost. The central issue is this: if the KPK commissioners wrongfully issued the travel bans, then it is an administrative matter --- not a criminal matter. If everyone focused on this important issue, then this case probably would have been resolved months ago.

For me, one of the most interesting things about this case is it shows how far this country has come since Suharto's downfall. I bet you didn't think I was going to say that! But seriously, in this case we have:

• a sophisticated news media that is doing a very good job of reporting a very complex case
• judges telling the President that he is wrong and ordering him to cancel his PERPPU
• massive public support for the KPK

The latter, public support, is perhaps the most important of all. By supporting the KPK, the people of Indonesia have taken a stand against corruption --- in a way that is perhaps more significant than the re-election of SBY. As horrible as this case is, this is its silver lining. Why is that important? Because, as annoying as we might be, we expats are ambassadors for Indonesia. As ambassadors, what do you think we will tell people about this case? How despicable the Police have been? Or how much we admire the people of Indonesia for taking a stand?
 
* hari kari