Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Antigraft activists say the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is the true hero in the fight against corruption and that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has nothing to do with the country's increasing Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Yudhoyono said on Tuesday night that the CPI increase to 2.8 in 2009 from 2.0 in 2004 was "solid evidence" that he had made gains in the fight against corruption throughout his first presidential term.
"President SBY often uses the increase of the CPI to claim his success in eradicating corruption. However, it must be noted that most of the eradication efforts were made by the KPK, an independent institution, which is not affected by anyone, including the President," Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Coordinator Danang Widoyoko told a conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"On the other hand, the institutions, in this case the police and the Attorney General's Office, that directly answer to the President, have made no significant contribution to the increase in the CPI," he added.
According to Danang, the percentage shows that the police and the AGO have only recorded minor internal reforms.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) secretary general Teten Masduki said the insignificant reforms by the police and the AGO showed that Yudhoyono had failed to improve the two institutions under his presidency.
"The evidence is clear. There are so many cases in the past that have tainted the image of these two institutions without (prompting) any action on behalf of the President. For example, the bribery case involving prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.
"The public have recently seen case brokers lurking around at both the police and the AGO," he said.
Urip was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in 2008 after he was found guilty of receiveing a Rp 6 billion (US$636,000) bribe.
On top of this, the Constitutional Court last month publicly played a tape that revealed an alleged conspiracy between a number of high-ranking officials at the police and the AGO to frame the KPK's two deputy chairmen, Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, with bribery.
Teten said that if all of the facts on corruption eradication in Indonesia were compiled, they would show an ironic twist between Yudhoyono's statement and the actions of him and those who answer to him.
"The continuous efforts to weaken the KPK as the number one graft-fighting institution by the President's men, whether by his Democratic Party-led coalition bloc at the House of Representatives or by the police and the AGO as his subordinates, shows a complete irony in (Yudhoyono's) statement," he said.
"If the President is serious about fighting graft, he can easily use his large coalition bloc to further strengthen the KPK's authority. However, we have not yet seen that, instead it is his Democratic Party that has been most passionate in (quashing) the KPK's rights to prosecute in the past," he said.
"So, the President must stop making speeches and start taking action. The people did not elect him because he won a speaking contest. He can start taking action by stopping efforts (taken by legal institutions) to erode the authority of the KPK," he said further.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's female legislators said their party would indeed support the fight against corruption. Theresia Pardede, Inggrid Kansil and Vena Melinda decided to don white armbands on their left arms.
Just a couple of weeks ago, antigraft activists agreed to wear black armbands as a symbol against corruption.