Emmy Fitri – With the fiery spat between the Corruption Eradication Commission and the National Police unlikely to end soon, activists are bemoaning President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's lack of action despite his name being dragged into the case. Calls have mounted for the president to use his political power to settle the turmoil.

Yudhoyono, however, has previously made it clear that he would not intervene, stating that it was a legal matter.

But his remark was made after he signed a regulation in-lieu-of-law, or perppu, last month to fill the vacant leadership in the antigraft agency, or KPK, which has been decimated by legal charges.

Thirteen lawyers filed a judicial review against the perppu to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, arguing that the legal instrument was unwarranted because the KPK could still perform with only two lead commissioners.

Former KPK chief Antasari Azhar faces murder charges, while deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah have been suspended after being charged by the police with bribery and abuse of power.

But Yudhoyono's self-proclaimed neutrality – which one activist called "zero action" – throughout the long course of the standoff is open to many interpretations, analysts said.

Zainal Arifin Muchtar from Gadjah Mada University's anti-corruption research center (Pukat) said Yudhoyono did practically nothing in the ongoing dispute. He said Yudhoyono's denial issued by spokesman Dino Patti Djalal of claims made in a wiretapped telephone conversation that he had supported efforts against the KPK "is completely wrong and misleading."

"There is no smoke without fire, right? The president must make it really clear that his name has been misused," Zainal said.

The president on Thursday called for an investigation into the recordings, but it wasn't clear who would be tasked to do the job.

The president could have instructed the police to step aside from cases implicating KPK officials and set up an independent team to investigate, Zainal said. Various groups, including KPK lawyers and Transparency International Indonesia, have called for the same. "Instead, he did nothing. Big zero," Zainal said.

Legal activist Hendardi noted that the case was no longer merely a legal one. "It is a high-profile political case. [Yudhoyono] has to take action, or it will backfire. If he can issue a government regulation forming a team to select interim KPK leaders, he can also establish an independent team."

Siti Zuhro of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said she could understand why Yudhoyono chose not to react. "Whatever he says can be used against him," Siti said, noting that he did respond, via a spokesman, to the allegations immediately to avoid speculation.