Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Representatives from the constituent parties of the ruling coalition say they will reject efforts to impose a party line on lawmakers to back specific candidates to lead the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Priyo Budi Santoso, a senior politican from the Golkar Party – the strongest ally of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party – said lawmakers should follow their preferences alone when electing the KPK's new leaders.
"It would be neither wise nor ethical if members the government coalition were obliged to elect certain candidates," he said.
The secretary-general of the United Development Party (PPP), Romahurmuziy, echoed Priyo's opinion. "Every political party must be able to be independent in choosing who they think are the best [candidates] to be the next leaders of the KPK," he said.
Following a lengthy selection process, the government forwarded to the House a list of eight candidates to lead the KPK, culled from hundreds of applicants.
As stipulated in the 2002 KPK Law, the House's Commission III overseeing law and human rights must hold "fit-and-proper" tests before selecting four candidates to serve as the KPK's new leaders.
Critics say that the selection process has been excessively politicized by those who fear the KPK, as the commission has watched over the fall of several politicians since its inception in 2003.
Bucking tradition, the government's selection committee decided on eight prominent candidates to lead the KPK, saying that less-substantial candidates would have less integrity.
The four candidates favored by observers are lawyer and activist Bambang Widjojanto, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre chief Yunus Husein, KPK advisor Abdullah Hehamuhua and incumbent KPK deputy for internal inspection and public complaints Handoyo Sudrajat.
The other candidates are lawyer Abraham Samad, Attorney General's Office (AGO) staff member Zulkarnain, National Police Commission member Adnan Pandupraja and retired police officer Gen (ret.) Aryanto Sutadi.
The coalition is reportedly planning to meet to consolidate a single stance ahead of the House's fit-and-proper tests.
Given the history of contradictory positions within the coalition, speculation is rife that politicians have started lobbying to secure KPK posts for Zulkarnain and Aryanto.
The AGO and the National Police have reportedly insisted that they must be "represented" in the KPK's leadership – despite the assignment of a host of police investigators and prosecutors to the commission.
Activists have warned that neither Zulkarnain nor Aryanto had achievements in fighting corruption in their current positions and that Aryanto has been mired by numerous graft allegations.
Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum said that while the coalition's joint secretariat had yet to discuss the KPK leadership election, he did not expect it to be an ordeal. "Inter-party talks on such an election, however, are commonplace and not just limited to government coalition parties," he said.
House Commission III chairman Benny Kabur Harman denied that he was ordered to ensure that the KPK election would proceed according to the secretariat's desire.