Essentially, I met leaders of the KPK to discuss the revision of the Anti-Graft Agency Law.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) invited leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday to discuss the revision of the KPK Law.
"Essentially, I met leaders of the KPK to discuss the revision of the Anti-Graft Agency Law. I will then meet leaders of the DPR to discuss the revision this afternoon," President Jokowi noted here on Monday.
In the meeting of the House, the president will discuss the KPK Law and others bills, which are included in the 2016 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
With regard to the revision, the president said he would comment further on the issue, saying that he would meet the leaders of the house.
Earlier, KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo and other institutional leaders had met President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday.
"We have consulted with the president on the revision of the KPK Law," Agus Rahardjo noted.
Rahardjo and other KPK leaders, however, did not reveal further details regarding their meeting with the president.
Meanwhile, several religious figures have urged President Jokowi to stop efforts by the DPR to revise the law on KPK.
"We urged President Jokowi to stop the efforts to revise the law as we see that the draft revision will only weaken (KPK)," Catholic priest Benny Susetyo stated at a meeting of interfaith figures on corruption.
He said that public pressure should make the president stop the revision and meet his governments promise to stay committed to fighting corruption.
To deal with the current emergency situation caused by corruption, Susetyo affirmed that the leader needed to demonstrate strong will to eradicate corruption and reject any efforts to weaken the anti-graft body.
Hajriyanto Y. Tohari, chairman of the Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, suspected that the president might have a hidden agenda by allowing the people to be involved in a polemic over the revision of the KPK law.
"I suspect that there is a hidden agenda behind him allowing the people to stage a polemic over the revision issue. Will he allow the people to continue with it?" he questioned.
In view of this, Tohari has called on the president to no longer allow the people to be part of the polemic by immediately clarifying whether he agreed to it.
The decision to include the revision of the KPK law in the Prolegnas this year is a joint decision of the government and DPR, and so, the president must demonstrate his firm stand by demanding a postponement of the discussion and not allowing the DPR to discuss the matter and making it the scapegoat, he emphasized.
The DPR was initially scheduled to discuss the revision on Feb. 18, but it was later decided to postpone the discussion until Feb. 23.
(Uu.A063/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
