Jakarta (ANTARA) - Five selected members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Supervisory Council took their oaths of office before President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) here on Friday amid widespread corruption that still poses a grave challenge for Indonesia.

Syamsuddin Haris, Artidjo Alkostar, Albertina Ho, Harjono, and Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean have officially become the anti-graft body's members of the supervisory council.

President Jokowi also witnessed the swearing-in of the KPK commissioners whose mandate will end in 2023.

Attendees at the swearing-in ceremony comprised several cabinet members, former KPK commissioners, ex-members of the KPK commissioner selection committee, and several other top officials.

Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean was the former KPK deputy chairman for the 2003-2007 period and acting KPK chairman for the 2009-2010 period. He is mandated to lead the KPK supervisory council that came into existence after the passage of the revised KPK Law.

The recent passing of the revised KPK Law has fueled a series of intense rallies in Jakarta and several other cities throughout Indonesia in September 2019 that claimed the lives of two university students in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi Province.

The corruption crimes remain a serious challenge for Indonesia since they have stunted growth of the country's development.

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Chief of the Task Force of Prevention Coordination and Supervision of KPK Asep Rahmat Suwandha revealed in April 2018 that 93 regional leaders, including 18 governors and 75 district heads and city mayors, had been named suspects in corruption.

Early this year, the KPK investigators had taken into arrest eight people, including Mesuji District Head Khamami, on graft charges, and they faced further investigation in Jakarta.

Febri Diansyah, the anti-graft body’s spokesman, remarked that the suspects, including individuals representing the private sector, were arrested in the areas of Bandarlampung City as well as the districts of Mesuji and Central Lampung.

During a raid conducted last January by the KPK investigators, a cardboard box filled with banknotes of Rp100 thousand denomination was confiscated, Diansyah noted, adding that the money in the box amounted to some Rp1 billion.

The money might be part of the fees for last year's infrastructure projects of the Mesuji Public Works and People's Housing Office, he added.

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Translator: Desca LN, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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