Ulma Hariyanto – Increasing numbers of Indonesians do not trust the once respected Corruption Eradication Commission, a new poll has revealed.

Adjie Alfaraby, a senior researcher for the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), said the survey showed that only 41.6 percent of 1,200 people surveyed believed the commission, known as the KPK, was truly independent.

A similar poll conducted in 2005 showed that almost 60 percent of those surveyed believed the KPK was free of undue influence.

Part of the survey, which included in-depth interviews with academics and public figures based in the provinces, was conducted before the scandal involving former Democratic Party lawmaker Muhammad Nazaruddin broke.

Nazaruddin, a corruption fugitive who has fled Indonesia, has implicated the agency's deputy chairman for graft enforcement, Chandra Hamzah; chief of graft investigation and prosecution, Insp. Gen. Ade Raharja; and spokesman, Johan Budi, in a high-profiled corruption scandal.

Nazaruddin has alleged that the three met Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum to secure political backing for their bids for the top KPK posts. In return, the former Democratic Party treasurer said, the KPK would overlook Anas's alleged role in a graft scandal surrounding the construction of an athletes' village for November's Southeast Asian Games. Nazaruddin has been named a suspect for his role in the case.