With more politicians potentially earning money from illicit sources
ahead of the 2014 general elections, Indonesian Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK), the country's anti-graft body, has renewed its pledge to take
preventive measures against possible acts of corruption.
“We will never tolerate these
political elites who try to rob the belongings of the people and the state,”
KPK deputy chairman Busyro Muqoddas said yesterday.
“The bigger their desire to loot,
the more we will intensify our preventive and repressive [prosecution]
measures.”
On Friday, Indonesia Corruption
Watch indicated there would be more political corruption in 2013 as political
parties would be seeking financial resources for the 2014 general elections.
According to the corruption
watchdog, political parties would mostly tap money from state budgets as a
result of poor political party financial regulation and weak implementation.
Busyro emphasised political
parties were the pillar of democracy that should serve to strengthen the
system. “If, in fact, they take advantage of their authority and commit corrupt
acts, they plough our democracy,” he said.
According to him, civil society
groups needed to participate more in democracy building by pushing political
parties to perform well. “Civil society must be critical. It can take legal
measures by requesting the Constitutional Court to disband political parties
[that condone graft practices],” he said.
Responding to possibilities that
political parties will try to intervene in graft cases implicating their
cadres, KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that his office could not intervene,
saying that it refused to meddle in politics.
“Keep in mind, the KPK
investigates persons allegedly involved in graft cases. We prosecute them as
individuals, not as political parties’ officials,” he said.
Yet, he admitted that 2013, the
year prior to the country’s general elections, would “likely give the
commission extra pressure.”
“In handling graft cases
connected to politicians, the KPK is often pulled into the political sphere by
these parties, as well as outsiders,” he added. “Then come the allegations that
the KPK is biased or that we only handle certain cases. There were even
accusations that the KPK took several cases hostage.”
He said that the commission was
still digging deeper into cases it was handling, including the one involving
Democratic Party member and former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng.
He added, however, that his
office had not yet scheduled to detain Andi — now a suspect — neither to summon
him for his first questioning session.
Separately, political analyst
Yudi Latif said members of the ruling coalition would try to maintain distance
from the Democratic Party, which has had several cadres named suspects in graft
scandals.
“They will start building a gap
with the Democratic Party because they don’t want the public to consider them
as corrupt as the party,” he said.
To retain their clean image, Yudi said,
political parties would also try to blame the Democratic Party for some of
major alleged corruption issues in the government including the 2008 Bank
Century bailout.
Ina Parlina
The Jakarta Post
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