Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Following 2008, which many people called "quite a success" with many high profile cases sewn up, including the case against the President's son's father-in-law, Aulia Pohan, no one expected the fight against corruption in Indonesia would turn as ugly as it has.

Transparency International had added 0.2 points to Indonesia's corruption perception index, improving it from 2.6 in 2008 to 2.8 in the 2009 survey. However, this was only a drop in the ocean, and Indonesia is still listed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

That incremental change soon becomes meaningless when we consider the incessant attacks on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which had spearheaded and symbolized Indonesia's war on corruption.

As Emerson Yuntho, deputy coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), put it: "2009 was a gloomy year for corruption eradication efforts."

The face of the antigraft war under Yudhoyono's administration is inseparable from the case of former KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding the assassination of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, the director of a state-owned pharmaceutical firm.

Antasari's case was the trigger to the KPK fiasco and shook the formerly solid KPK when two of its deputy chairmen were named suspects in alleged abuse of power, bribery and extortion related to corruption fugitive Anggoro Widjojo who was being investigated by the commission.

Anggoro, who is currently at large in Singapore, is suspected of alleged bribery and corruption related to a procurement project for the Forestry Ministry.

The charges against the KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, who both dealt with enforcement matters, were based on a report and testimony by Antasari and apparently supported by testimony from alleged case broker Ari Muladi, who said he was ordered by Anggoro's brother Anggodo Widjojo to provide false testimony against the deputies.

Critics had voiced doubts over case from the start due to lack of solid evidence provided by the police, creating massive popular movements defending Bibit and Chandra on social networking site Facebook that was successfully supported by 1.5 million people.

Public suspicion that the charges were fabricated began to surface after the Constitutional Court ordered the KPK to play wiretapped conversations between Anggodo and senior officials from the National Police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

The conversation allegedly showed how easily Anggodo and his colleagues manipulated senior legal enforcement officials. The tapes strongly hinted at efforts to fabricate facts and evidence to incriminate the KPK deputies, all allegedly attempts by Anggodo to clear Anggoro's legal troubles.

The alleged fabrication was confirmed by a team specially formed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to probe the investigative process in the Bibit and Chandra case.

The team recommended the National Police and the AGO drop their case against the KPK deputies because they did not find convincing evidence to support the charges against the deputies. The team also recommended the President reform and reshuffle National Police and AGO officials allegedly involved in efforts to frame Bibit and Chandra.

By this time, the National Police had submitted their Bibit and Chandra case files to the AGO, claiming they believed they had sufficiently strong evidence to proceed with their case.

The recommendation was followed up a week later when the President finally issued an official statement on the findings, saying he "expected an out-of-court settlement" in the case.

A few days later, the National Police replaced chief detective Insp. Gen. Susno Duadji, while the AGO replaced Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga.

The AGO then issued a letter stopping the prosecution's case against Bibit and Chandra. The letter left the President no choice, so he issued a presidential decree reinstating both deputies.

But Bibit and Chandra's exoneration does not mean the public is satisfied. Fadjroel Rahman, coordinator for the Anticorruption Civil Coalition, said the public support for Bibit and Chandra came with strings attached.

"We expect Bibit and Chandra, together with other KPK leaders, to settle all outstanding corruption cases," he said.

He cited the Bank Century bailout, a case that surfaced at the same time as Bibit and Chandra's case, even though it had no direct relation with the deputies' case. "We expect the investigation into the case to be transparent," he said.

KPK interim deputy chairman Waluyo, in a speech handing the reins back to Bibit and Chandra, said, "One BC [Bibit-Chandra] issue has been settled. Let's get to the bottom the next BC [Bank Century] issue."

Bibit and Chandra were tight-lipped about the mounting public expectation of them, replying with a standard "we will close ranks to fight corruption".

So let's sit back while we wait, see and monitor whether Bibit and Chandra can really repay the public's massive outpouring of support and trust, and reinvigorate the war on corruption.