Jakarta – Several people have criticized House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie's latest remarks calling to disband the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and pardon corruption convicts if they returned the loot they pillaged.
Said Aqil Sirodj, the chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said Marzuki's statement was indicative of his frustration with the severe turmoil his Democratic Party was embroiled in, including a bribery case surrounding a Southeast Asian (SEA) Games construction project.
"I think we can still put our hopes in the KPK to eradicate corruption, although the integrity of some of its leaders is now being questioned," Said told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. If the problem lay with the KPK officials, they could be replaced with more credible people, but the institution should not just be dissolved, he said.
Said added that he considered Marzuki's stance on pardoning corruption convicts inappropriate. "In Islam, if I do not pray five times a day, then it is up to God whether to forgive me," he said. "But if someone does not pay a debt, then God will never forgive them if the creditor does not forgive them. I think this analogy can be applied to corruption convicts."
Golkar Party legislator Bambang Soesatyo from House Commission III concurred, saying that Marzuki's statement indicated a lack of support in the drive to eradicate graft. "It is obvious that his statement runs counter to the nation's will to combat graft," he was quoted as saying Sunday by news portal tribunnews.com.
Marzuki recently called on the government to evaluate whether the KPK should continue to spearhead the fight against graft, saying the integrity of certain KPK leaders had been compromised.
KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah, enforcement deputy Ade Rahardja and spokesman Johan Budi allegedly met and made a deal with fugitive graft suspect and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin.
The three KPK leaders admitted they met Nazaruddin on different occasions, but insisted that they did not make any deals with him. The KPK's ethics commission is probing the allegations.
Bambang said the House should have encouraged the KPK to undergo massive internal cleansing to prove to the public that it still had the right to lead the fight against graft.
Political observer from University of Indonesia, Arbi Sanit, saw Marzuki's remark as disunity within the Democratic Party. "Party chief patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiated the antigraft movement and supported establishment of the KPK, but his fellow party member now goes against his commitment," said Arbi.
However, he also saw Yudhoyono's inconsistency in keeping his antigraft commitment as he did not order a probe against party members who are allegedly implicated in any graft cases.