The President said the results of the civic knowledge test must not be used as the basis for dismissing the 75 KPK employees who did not pass the test.
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KOMPAS TEAM
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Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Corruption Eradication Commission employees enter the KPK Building, Jakarta, Friday (7/5/2021). A number of groups criticized the the civic knowledge test conducted on KPK employees as a requirement to be appointed as the state civil apparatus.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has finally spoken up about the controversy relating to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as a result of the change in status of KPK employees to members of the state civil apparatus (ASN). The President said the results of the civic knowledge test must not be used as the basis for dismissing the 75 KPK employees who did not pass the test. The test results were sufficient as input for the improvement of the institution and the individuals.
"If there are shortcomings, I think there is still an opportunity to make improvements through particular education on civic knowledge," said President Jokowi in a statement on the status of the KPK employees made at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday (17/5/2021) and broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account.
The President emphasized that the KPK must have the best human resources and be highly committed to eradicating corruption. Thus, the transfer of their status to members of the ASN had to be part of a more systematic effort to eradicate corruption.
The President agreed with the consideration of the Constitutional Court (MK) in the judicial review ruling on Law No. 19/2019 on the Second Amendment to the KPK Law. The Constitutional Court ruled that the KPK employee status transfer process should not impinge upon the rights of KPK employees to be appointed civil servants.
"I ask the relevant parties, particularly the leaders of the KPK, the administrative and bureaucratic reform minister, as well as the head of the National Civil Service Agency [BKN], to design follow-up actions for the 75 KPK employees who did not pass the test, based on the principles that I have conveyed," he said.
TANGKAPAN LAYAR
Screenshot of the Presidential Secretariat account when President Joko Widodo gave a statement regarding the status of the Corruption Eradication Commission employees, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (17/5/2021).
Based on the President\'s instructions, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the ministry still had to coordinate with BKN head Bima Haria Wibisana and KPK chair Firli Bahuri.
KPK deputy chair Nurul Ghufron said the KPK would use the civic knowledge test results as input for the improvement of the antigraft body and individuals working in the KPK as requested by the President.
A member of the KPK supervisory board, Syamsuddin Haris, has asked KPK leaders to revoke the decision to dismiss the 75 KPK employees who did not pass the test.
He said the test results, which contained errors, could not be the basis for dismissing KPK employees.
Public investigation team
KPK director for inter-commission and agency networks Sujanarko, who represents the 75 employees who did not pass the test, asked the KPK leaders to rehabilitate the names of the 75 KPK employees.
He asked the government to form an independent public investigation team. "To evaluate and take decisive action against the policies and inappropriate actions that have been carried out by the KPK leaders against the 75 employees," said Sujanarko.
Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
KPK director for inter-commission and agency networks , (PJKAKI) Sujanarko, one of the representatives of 75 disabled KPK employees, after giving statements to journalists regarding their complaints against members of the KPK Supervisory Board Indriyanto Seno Adji to the Supervisory Board at the KPK Building, Jakarta, Monday (17/5/2021).
Andalas University Constitutional Study Center (Pusako) executive director Feri Amsari said that the President\'s statement implied that the KPK Law and Government Regulation (PP) No. 41/ 2020 on the transfer of KPK employees to the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) did not mention civic knowledge tests as a prerequisite for the employment transfer.
"It must be a serious concern for the KPK leaders not to do anything that is not regulated in the higher-level regulation," said Feri.
The requirement that KPK employees pass the civic knowledge test are stipulated in KPK Regulation No. 1/2021 on procedures for changing the status of KPK Employees to ASN, which was issued by the KPK chairman on Jan. 27.
Zainal Arifin Mochtar, head of the Constitutional Law Department at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the President\'s statement had not settled the problem.
"The President\'s statement has not resolved the issue of whether it is correct for someone to use his power and authority to remove 75 KPK employees. Further efforts are needed to resolve circulating rumors in public," he said.
The KPK supervisory board must not stay silent.
The former deputy chair of the KPK, from 2004 to 2011, Mochammad Jasin, said that since the KPK had been founded in 2003, efforts to weaken it had taken various forms. It was also possible that the transfer of KPK employees to the ASN, including the use of the civic knowledge test, was another such effort.
To that end, former KPK deputy chair Adnan Pandu Praja, who held the position from 2011 to 2015, asked the KPK and the State Civil Apparatus Commission to properly oversee the change in the status of the KPK employees. "The KPK supervisory board must not stay silent," he said. (CAS/WKM/NIA/PDS/BOW)
