In May, The Jakarta Post wrote in this column that many parties were gunning for the demise of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The House of Representatives, responding to the arrest of KPK chairman Antasari Azhar in early May, demanded that the corruption watchdog suspend its investigations. In a bold move, the KPK responded by nabbing three House members and charging them with corruption.

Three months have passed since then and attempts to dissolve the KPK could not be more passionate. The police said last week that the suspended KPK chief, who has been detained since May for his suspected involvement in a murder, had filed a report alleging his two deputies received bribes from KPK suspects.

The report states that Antasari left for Singapore to confirm details of the scandal and now had a recording in which the accused businessmen admitted to bribing KPK officials.

KPK deputy chairman Bibit Samad Rianto responded by accusing Antasari of joining in the smear campaign to undermine the commission. Bibit said it made no sense that KPK officials had been bribed because they continued with the investigation regardless.

Bibit's response made no effort to hide which group exactly was out to crush the KPK. It is understood that the police have been furious with the KPK even since its recent investigation into a high-ranking police official allegedly connected to a bank scandal.

The tension between the police and the KPK is no subtle or hidden fact: the President has come out and pledged to arbitrate it, though this has not come to fruition.

Established in 2003, the KPK has a 100 percent success rate. Not a single case investigated by the corruption watchdog has fallen flat once it has reached the courts. Their investigations have penetrated high-profile institutions like the House of Representatives, Bank Indonesia, the Attorney General's Office and the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The list of those plagued by corruption only shows the wide reaching moral damage suffered by these vital institutions.

The KPK fiasco aside, the government submitted a new corruption bill to the House last month, just two months before the current legislature ends its term. The bill is likely to undermine the KPK's authority as it stipulates that there should be no minimum punishment for corruptors, and paves the way for whistle-blowers to possibly face criminal charges.

On the other hand, the House is racing against time to pass this bill into law, a crucial move considering the court has been instrumental in bringing corruptors to justice.

In 2006 the Constitutional Court found that the corruption court had violated the Constitution when it was founded under the KPK law, not the law on the judiciary. The Constitutional Court ruled a proper legal basis for the Corruption Court had to be passed by December 2009, or it would be dissolved.

The fact the KPK is facing such an uphill battle should not come as a surprise to anyone, particularly the KPK itself. This is a country which is consistently rated as one of the most corrupt in the world. If the President appears indecisive on the issue the people will stop supporting the embattled KPK leaders. Those who wish to see this country take a meaningful stride toward good governance and transparency need this organization to remain afloat.