Anti-graft agency KPK is doing a good job. So why is Indonesia diluting its power?

The Corruption Eradication Commission has consistently been voted the country’s most trusted institution but lawmakers now plan legal revisions that will subject the agency to government oversight

Civil rights and anti-corruption campaigners have called on Joko Widodo to ‘save the KPK’ but the president’s stance on the issue ‘remains enigmatic’

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Indonesian members of parliament listen to President Joko Widodo delivering a speech ahead of Independence Day in Jakarta on August 16. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:30am, 12 Sep 2019Updated: 5:06pm, 12 Sep 2019

Indonesian anti-graft activists are protesting against plans by legislators to revise a law governing the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that critics fear will weaken the agency.

The KPK has played a crucial role in investigating corruption among Indonesia’s state-owned companies, government agencies and private sector. It has consistently been voted the nation’s most trusted institution over the years.

A key proposed amendment would place the KPK, which currently operates as an independent agency, under government oversight.

NGO watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said this would curtail the KPK’s power to investigate without interference from the executive.

“You need independence to investigate high-profile cases involving powerful businesspeople and political elites,” ICW coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo told the South China Morning Post.

Since its establishment in 2003, the KPK has investigated more than 1,000 cases. Lawmakers were involved in 255, according to The Jakarta Globe newspaper.

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