Jakarta, 29 th June 2021 – Greenpeace Indonesia activists projected the slogan “Save KPK” and “Dare to be honest, fired!” ( Berani Jujur, Pecat !) onto the building of the Corruption Eradication Commission, also known as KPK, last night to protest against the weakening of the reformist anti-graft agency, after prominent investigators were dismissed over a dubious procedure. 

The spoof message is set to challenge KPK’s official slogan “Dare to be honest, is great!” and is about  the recent dismissal of 51 employees who failed a questionable test that intended to evaluate the participants’ civic knowledge, but included personal questions, such as religious beliefs, political and ideological matters. Those who didn’t pass the test were labeled as “unfit to receive additional career development support”.

Asep Komaruddin, senior Greenpeace Indonesia campaigner said:

“We are witnessing the deliberate weakening of an exemplary and independent body that watches over our nation’s reputation and credibility. It is yet another government’s step to lower the country’s transparency standards and let corruption pass unchallenged. This surely won’t pass unnoticed to foreign companies looking to invest in the country, as well as for foreign governments that provide financial aid to Indonesia” 

According to the global watchdog Transparency International (TI), Indonesia dropped three points on its corruption perception index last year and ranked 102 out of 180 countries in 2020 on TI’s index.

The process of stripping the KPK from its autonomy began in 2019 when a law that impacted its investigative capacities was passed in record time, despite strong opposition from the public, setting off some of the largest civil society protests since the fall of Soeharto, under the banner of Reform Corrupted (#Reformasi Dikorupsi). This law mandates that by September this year, KPK will be effectively turned into a government body, when all its employees become civil servants. 

“President Jokowi said the test should not be used as the basis for dismissing the employees, but no further action was taken. He must now put an end to this process, return the  jobs and advocate for a transparent and independent KPK. Truly democratic leaders must encourage strong scrutiny across their governments.  If they don’t, then it’s up to the civil society to reclaim democracy back”, said Komaruddin. 

Photos: https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MDHUX33DD

PR in Bahasa: https://www.greenpeace.org/indonesia/siaran-pers/45061/selamatkan-kpk-dari-cengkeraman-oligarki/ 

Contacts

Sol Gosetti, Media Coordinator, Greenpeace Southeast Asia: [email protected], +44 (0) 7380845754

Asep Komaruddin, Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner, +62 813-1072-8770