April 18, 2023
JAKARTA – As public scrutiny over the wealth of public officials intensifies, dozens of lawmakers are currently in the spotlight for either being late in submitting their wealth report (LHKPN) to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), or worse, failing to comply with the legal obligation to do so three years in a row.
The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), which perused LHKPN data on the KPK website, has reported 55 lawmakers to the House of Representatives’ ethics council for their failure to do their obligation as public officials, as mandated by the 2002 KPK Law and the 1999 Law on Clean Governance. Of the said lawmakers, 16 people failed to submit their wealth report regularly and eight simply failed to comply.
The graft watchdog also found that House deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar of the National Awakening Party (PKB) failed to submit his wealth report in 2021, while another House speaker, Lodewijk F. Paulus of the Golkar Party, failed to do so in 2020 and 2021. Other House deputy speakers, Rahmat Gobel of the NasDem Party and Sufmi Dasco Ahmad are known to have failed to make their submission before the March 31 deadline.
Meanwhile, one member of the House’s ethics council, according to the ICW study, has never submitted a wealth report since 2019. “We saw that the actions of the 55 people deserve to be categorized as a violation of the law,” ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana told reporters last week after submitting the watchdog’s findings to the House’s ethics council.
The ICW demanded that the House ethics council summon the recalcitrant lawmakers to clarify their lack of compliance and punish them.
The House’s ethics council’s chairman, Adang Daradjatun, said he would proceed with the ICW’s report and punish those who neglected the rules to file a report annually. Council member Imron Amin, meanwhile, said the council had regularly reminded lawmakers to submit their wealth reports before the deadline by sending a circular letter.
KPK spokesperson Ipi Maryati said the KPK had received a report from the ICW before the antigraft watchdog handed it over to the House’s ethics council.
She said the KPK applauded the ICW’s study regarding lawmakers’ compliance in reporting their wealth, saying that the move was a form of the people’s participation in eradicating corruption.
Meanwhile, KPK graft prevention deputy Pahala Nainggolan said on Friday he would check on the ICW’s report and send a letter by the end of the month, to government agencies that do not comply with reporting their wealth, including to the House’s general secretariat. The KPK has no plans yet to summon lawmakers regarding the ICW’s list.
“When summoning people, there are some criteria. One of which is failing to submit a wealth report. [But we give priority to] public complaints [about the criminal acts of corruption],” he said.
When asked about the high number of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) members failing to submit their wealth report, PDI-P lawmaker Aria Bima said the party should respond positively to the ICW report. He added that lawmakers might intend to follow the rule, but the complicated steps of submitting the wealth report becomes an obstacle to complying.
“I’m sure the lawmakers whom the ICW reported on didn’t have negative intentions on reporting,” he said. (ahw)