Megawati says KPK could be shut down

The Jakarta Post, Tue, August 18 2015


Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Tuesday drew attention to ad hoc institutions in Indonesia, especially the existence of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which she said could be disbanded because it was temporary in nature.

“We must stop the so-called corruption so that the commission, which is temporary in nature, can be disbanded,” she said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Megawati said the formation of the KPK was based on a strong reason, namely to eradicate corruption. Thus, she further said, the existence of the institution was no longer needed if corruption was dealt with.

“It seems that the current [corruption eradication] efforts are beating around the bush; thus, we don’t know how long the KPK will continue to exist -- though initially its formation had a reason,” said Megawati.

The fifth Indonesian president further said that she was fully aware that her statement would draw pros and cons from the people and she could even be bullied by people who considered her statement merely as "provocation".

However, Megawati said, it was very logical for her to make such a statement.

“If there is no corruption in Indonesia, the KPK would be no longer exist and this is logical thinking,” she said.

Megawati further said the existence of ad hoc institutions in Indonesia, which now reached around 80, needed to be reviewed because such a high number of institutions would absorb a large amount of the state budget.

“I know there are 80 institutions in the form of ad hoc commissions. Pak Zul [People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Zulkifli Hasan] has even said there are 100 institutions. We know some of them, such as the KPK, the Judicial Commission and the General Elections Commission," said Megawati.

"All of them receive state facilities and I’ve tried to calculate budgetary allocations for the commissions; for some of them I have no idea of their whereabouts and how much funding allocations they need. Their existence should be reexamined,” said Megawati.



*