KPK Asks DPRD to Strengthen Control
Wednesday, 02 April, 2008 | 17:33 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Commission to Eradicate Corruption (KPK) asked the regional parliament (DPRD) to strengthen control of corruption. This is because corruption tends to happen on a regional level involving regional leaders.

“About 73 percent of corruption cases handled by KPK are found on the regional level,” said deputy for Information and Data Division of KPK, Syamsa Ardisasmita, who is also KPK general secretary, to journalists at his office yesterday. “Most of corruption is found in logistics and service supplying.”

One of the cases is supply of fire engines . It occurred in Medan, East Kalimantan, Riau, and Makassar.

The court for Corruption Action gave a sentence of four years and a fine of Rp 200 million to former mayor for Makassar, Baso Amiruddin Maula. Maula is the first regional leader sentenced for this case. KPK also has arrested former Governor for Riau, Saleh Djasit, for the same case.

According to Syamsa, the regional elections are a potential for corruption. “It has a political cost,” said Syamsa. This situation is different to what happened in 1999-2004 when 23 legislators from DPRD were involved in corruption action.

Syamsa said KPK works together with the government of Denmark to strengthen the monitoring by holding workshops in several areas such as West Java, Yogyakarta, and Gorontalo. KPK plans to have such workshops in eight provinces in Indonesia.

Coordinator for Court Monitoring of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Emerson Yuntho, is pessimistic that DPRD can maximize the monitoring function. “They are a part of the corruption activity,” he said. “How can they monitor then?”

PURBORINI | POERNOMO