ICW Suspects KPK Law Revision Aimed at Kicking-out Novel Baswedan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives passed the revision of Law No.30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission, Tuesday, September 17. The KPK Law revision has a number of articles that are considered tools to weaken the anti-graft institution.

The Indonesia Corruption Watch or ICW suspects that one particular article was created to drive out KPK senior investigator Novel Baswedan. Article 45A sets out requirements to become KPK investigators, one of them is to be physically and mentally healthy—certified by a doctor.

"There is an effort to remove Novel from eradicating corruption," ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah told Tempo on Tuesday, September 17.

As is known, Novel's visibility is impaired after he was attacked two years ago. The acid thrown at his face damaged his eyes. The police had not been able to find his attackers.

In January this year, the police forced a joint team to pursue the case. But instead of finding the attackers, they are accused of using excessive authority.

The joint team then recommended the police form a technical team to conduct further investigations. Formed in August 2019, President Joko Widodo gave the team three months to solve the case. To date, there has been no known progress in the investigation.

According to Wana, suspicions that there is an effort to get rid of Novel is plausible, given the investigator's tendency to handle major cases. Novel also often speak out; demanding his attack prosecuted.

According to Wana, the requirement is suspicious, as the KPK has never appointed investigators with huge physical deficiencies. The injuries suffered by Novel, he said, occurred after many years of working for KPK.

"It feels like this article was made to prevent people with serious injuries to keep working at the KPK," he said.  

M Rosseno Aji