By: Sandy Arifin)*
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) showed its fangs again as the spearhead of the efforts in eradicating corruption in Indonesia. This time, KPK managed to scoop up the Chairman of the Regional Representatives Council of Republic of Indonesia (DPD RI) Irman Gusman along with three others in an Operasi Tangkap Tangan (OTT) on Saturday (09/17/2016) morning. Not long after that, in the afternoon, KPK then announced the status of Irman Gusman and three people that were also arrested with him as the “suspect”. Based on the clarification of KPK, Irman Gusman was arrested for suspicion of receiving bribes related to the sugar import quota in West Sumatra.
News of the arrests of Irman Gusman instantly caused a stir throughout the country. In addition to its status as one of the state officials, Irman Gusman also been assessed as being authoritative, clean of corruption, and unpretentious. Irman Gusman even listed as one of the figures who want the death penalty for corruptors. Moreover, his position as Chairman of the DPD RI make many people doubt, given the DPD does not have the authority to “play” in budget so it becomes “worthy” to be bribed. The surprise came not only from the general public. A number of high-ranking officials of Indonesia, including some members of DPD RI, consider the arrest of Irman Gusman just like “a bolt of lightning in a broad daylight”.
Undeniably, the arrests of Irman Gusman shocked majority of Indonesian people. Of course, the one that got “worst damage” is DPD RI. This is reasonable, considering that DPD RI can be said as the most “clean” institution from scandals of corruption. The arrests of Irman Gusman certainly tarnished that “clean sheet”. “The first perpetrator of corruption scandal in DPD RI is the chairman himself“, is a snapshot of history that certainly very embarrassing for DPD RI. The damage to DPD seemed worse, considering the DPD RI is now well underway to propose the addition of authority, especially in aspects of the budget. Ironically, Irman Gusman is one of several figures who actively voiced the proposal. For those who are skeptical, the arrests of Irman Gusman seemed to be a sign that the addition of the authority for the DPD RI will only gives more ulcers to the institution.
However, in the Indonesian legal system there is term called presumption of innocence. In this context, we can’t judge that Irman Gusman “guilty” if the court has not decided. Therefore, we shouldn’t “condemned” Irman Gusman excessively.
Meanwhile, in a broader context, the arrests of Irman Gusman is something personal, so we should not linking it with DPD RI that he leads right now. In other words, although the supreme leader of DPD indicated as a “dirty” one, it does not automatically make the DPD institutionally come to be “dirty”. DPD institutionally is a political entity that is “clean”, despite any number of elements in it are “dirty”. Therefore, cynical attitude towards DPD RI as an institution is something’s not right. The wisest attitude that we can do now is to support KPK to continue the legal proceedings against Irman Gusman objectively, so that the real truth will be revealed. In addition, we also need to support DPD RI to strengthen its internal inspection to be more comprehensive, in order to prevent corruption in the future.
