Ulma Haryanto – More than a few eyebrows were raised when a relatively unknown young legal activist and lawyer from Makassar, South Sulawesi, emerged as the country's new antigraft czar on Friday.

And Abraham Samad didn't just scrape through, either. He garnered 43 of the 56 votes cast by members of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs and was responsible for appointing the new leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Choky Ramadhan, from the Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (Mappi), said this achievement was surprising, given that he legislators met him for the first time during the vetting process during the week.

"Everything that comes out of the House is politically compromised anyway, but to know that Abraham received the majority of votes in such a short time was surprising since his achievements so far are still relatively unknown," he told the Jakarta Globe. "Did he strike a deal with the parties at the House in exchange for their support?"

During his interview earlier this week, Abraham told Commission III that his strategy to combat corruption included strengthening the witness protection program, boosting cooperation with other law enforcement agencies and focusing on corruption prevention.

He also told legislators that he believed the KPK wielded too much authority, particularly in conducting wiretaps, and criticized KPK chairman Busyro Muqoddas for speaking too much in public.

"In a way, Abraham has more in common with the legislators [than the other candidates do]," Choky said. "He also said he would like for the KPK to have the authority to cease an investigation."

The antigraft body's inability to drop a probe has forced it to be extra careful in its work, to the point where it has been criticized for moving too slowly in investigating cases. "But the lack of this authority also means that it cannot be turned into a commodity that can be sold for a price," Choky said.

The activist also took issue with the selection of National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member Adnan Pandu Praja and prosecutor Zulkarnain as KPK deputy chairmen.

Zulkarnain was previously criticized for failing to report his entire personal wealth to the state, as is required of high-ranking public officials.

"He still has properties that he hasn't reported. Besides that, when he served as the East Java chief prosecutor, he made the Lapindo case very difficult to prosecute and as a result police dropped the case," Choky said.

He was referring to the mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, whose eruption in 2006 was widely blamed on gas drilling firm Lapindo Brantas, a Bakrie Group subsidiary. Police dropped a criminal probe into the disaster after prosecutors repeatedly refused to take up the case on the grounds that liability for the accident could not be proven.

As for Adnan, Choky said he had made "no achievements during his time at Kompolnas."

Tama Satrya Langkun, a researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the new KPK commissioners would have to insulate themselves from all political agendas. "The challenge for the KPK leaders in the future is very great. Corrupters are fighting back, so they have to be ready to take risks," he said.

Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, a former KPK deputy, said it was important that someone familiar with the workings of the commission be appointed as a deputy. "They know how things work, the mechanisms and priorities, whereas it will take longer for a complete outsider to understand these," he said.

He added that he hoped Busyro and fellow appointee Bambang Widjojanto, both much older than Abraham, would take the lead in guiding the KPK.

Tama said that with Bambang on board, the KPK leadership had a civil society representative. "He has to prove whether with this NGO factor, the KPK is better than if it was led solely by police officers and prosecutors," he said.

Erry said that with three lawyers in the leadership, the KPK could become overly focused on enforcement to the detriment of its other tasks: corruption prevention and education.

He said he hoped the KPK's internal mechanism would snuff out any political agenda brought in by the new commissioners. "The KPK has a certain mechanism, a standard operating procedure, as its last defense against corruption from within," he said.