Jakarta – Anti-graft activists have vowed to fight to prevent the House of Representatives from passing the Corruption Court bill, claiming lawmakers have altered the bill in an attempt to undermine efforts to eradicate corruption.
"We are going to mobilize everyone we can to reject the passage of the bill. If the bill is endorsed, we will pursue all possible legal avenues to revise it," secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Teten Masduki said Thursday.
Zainal Arifin Muchtar from Gadjah Mada University's Center for Anti-corruption Studies (Pukat) joined the chorus of opposition to the bill. "The last alternative is to ask the president to issue a regulation-in-lieu of law to prevent the bill from being passed," Zainal said.
Corruption watchdogs were previously urging the House to immediately pass the bill, with the knowledge that if it doesn't pass it before the end of their term this month the draft law process will have to start again from scratch.
But in an about-face, the antigraft community is now pushing for the suspension of the bill, which since it has been watered down would now actually weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the whole legal process against graft.
Most recently, the antigraft activists accused the House of trying to weaken the KPK's authority by revoking its right to prosecute by giving it back to the Attorney General's Office.
A lawmaker involved in the deliberation of the bill told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday the House also planned to strip the KPK off its authority to wire-tap suspects. The KPK has implicated a number of lawmakers in graft cases this year thanks in part to wire-tapping.
Zainal said the lawmakers were now showing their true colors and were either ignorant of or simply didn't care about the severity of corruption in the country.
"Corruption has become an extraordinary disease and the country is suffering, and to eradicate it, we need extraordinary instruments and measures," he said. "That is why we need the KPK to keep its authority, including wire-tapping and prosecuting."
A member of the House's committee deliberating the bill, Dewi Asmara of the Golkar Party, dismissed speculation that the lawmakers were trying to kill the KPK. She said all options remained on the table. (hdt)