Dinda Shabrina, Jakarta – A researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Yassar Aulia, asserted that a high number of the House of Representatives (DPR) members implicated in corruption possess business backgrounds. According to ICW's 2022 research, at least 319 House members have been declared corruption suspects.

Yassar explained that of the total 319 legislative members embroiled in corruption, the majority have business or private sector backgrounds, followed by those with political backgrounds.

"Private sector actors and political actors contribute substantially to corruption cases in Indonesia. The combination of these attributes within a single legislative member poses a double risk. In this context, they are both legislators and businessmen," Yassar said during the discussion on the composition of the 2024-2029 DPR on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

Yassar further mentioned that DPR members affiliated with the private sector or classified as businessmen exhibit a strong correlation with the future laws they produce.

He highlighted various problematic laws that primarily benefit a few parties, namely the oligarchy. "For example, the Omnibus Law on Job Creation and the Mineral and Coal Mining Law," he remarked.

According to data compiled by ICW, 354 out of the 580 legislative members recently sworn in for the 2024-2029 period are affiliated with businessmen. "This means that 60 percent of the total 580 individuals have business affiliations," he stated.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1924328/icw-many-dpr-corrupt-parliament-members-have-business-background