Rangga Prakoso – Antigraft watchdogs have expressed concern that the House of Representatives is dragging its feet on selecting four anti-corruption commissioners, which could potentially lead to a vacuum in the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Dimas Prasidi, an activist from the Institute for the Assessment and Advocacy of Independent Judiciary (LeIP), said on Thursday that with only 15 working days until the House broke for recess on Oct. 29, "we don't believe there's enough time because it took the selection committee several months to come out with the shortlist of candidates it submitted to the House."

House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, is tasked with selecting four people from the list of eight candidates to serve as deputy chairmen of the body known as the KPK.

After choosing the final four, the list must be submitted to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono within seven working days. He has up to 30 working days in which to review and approve the choices. Though there is no official deadline for the final selections, the current chairmen's terms ends on Dec. 12 and their replacements must be sworn in by Dec. 19.

Dimas accused the House of deliberately wasting time by continuing to hold out for a list of 10 candidates instead of eight, its members having argued that they should be selecting five candidates, one of which would be appointed the KPK chairman.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that the current chairman, Busyro Muqoddas, who was appointed a year ago, is not due for replacement and must be allowed to serve out his full term of four years.

"This issue was addressed by the court, so the House has no reason for continuing to argue," Dimas said. "There's an indication that they're trying to let a vacuum form within the KPK leadership. It will be a violation of the law if on December 19 we don't have a new batch of KPK deputies."

Dwipoto Kusumo, from Transparency International Indonesia, echoed the urgency of selecting the final four candidates for the KPK. "The House must carry out the fit-and-proper tests immediately. Time is fast running out," he said.

However, Zulkarnain, one of the shortlisted candidates, said he did not think that the House was stalling for time, adding that he believed it was just busy with other matters. "I'd say their use of the time allocated has been reasonable," said Zulkarnain, a prosecutor.

He and Aryanto Sutadi, a former police general, are widely considered the least appropriate candidates by antigraft activists, who have cited their questionable track records in fighting corruption.