TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The worst fears of anti-corruption activists have become a reality. The law commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) made their final selection of the people to lead the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and they turned out to be 'soft' candidates. There is serious concern that this new leadership will eventually weaken the anti-graft organization.

Members of the DPR's law commission failed to give the impression that they had really tried to select leaders with integrity, experience and courage. Three of those who met these qualifications former KPK staff Busyro Muqoddas, Johan Budi Sapto Pribowo and Sujanarko failed to make the cut. The chosen five are those whose commitment to fighting corruption has yet to be tested.

Surprisingly, Agus Rahardjo got the most votes. The former chairman of the Policy Institute for the Acquisition of Government Goods and Services was chosen as the new KPK chairman. The other four figures who will serve as his deputies are ad hoc judge of the Corruption Court Alexander Marwata; Expert Staff to the chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Thony Saut Situmorang; Expert Staff to the Police Chief Insp. Gen. Basaria Pandjaitan; and Hasanuddin University Lecturer Laode Muhammad Syarief.

Although Agus' integrity is unquestioned, he is, nevertheless, an untested commodity in the fight against corruption. The other four people are equally a big question mark. Insp. Gen. Basaria, for example, wants to maximize oversight on the KPK and is pushing for the Police and the Attorney-General's Office (AGO) to play a bigger role in anti-corruption activities. The ideas conveyed during the fit and proper test carried out by the DPR have many people worried that the KPK will turn into nothing more than a 'corruption prevention commission'.

Clearly, the DPR undermined the pre-selection process that had been carried out in a transparent manner. Some of the candidates did get grilled by the selection committee over their suspiciously acquired assets, among them, Police Insp. Gen. (ret.) Yotje Mende, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Hendardji Soepandji and Saut Situmorang. Yotje, who once served as chief of the Papua Police, for example, was once spotlighted for his many financial transactions during 2013.

Yet the pre-selection committee's caution had to give way to the pressures of a deadline. In the end, it was anticlimatic, a stark reminder of the series of attempts to criminalize former KPK leaders. Hopefully, this is not part of a systematic attempt to emasculate the anti-corruption commission, given the recent attempts to reduce the authority of the KPK by revising the KPK law.

This gloomy outlook for the anti-corruption movement is today worse than when new KPK leaders were elected in 2011. At that time, Bambang Widjojanto had emerged with the highest score, although Abraham Samad was eventually selected to chair the KPK and later demonstrated his fearlessness in combating corruption.

But the successes of the KPK during the Samad and Bambang era ultimately triggered opposition from the lawmakers in Senayan and led to clashes with the Police.

The most obvious test faced by Agus Rahardjo and his colleagues will be right in front of their eyes. To what extent will the new leadership be capable of fighting the onslaught to weaken their organization through a revision of the KPK legislation? Their courage and capability will also be tested by whether they are able to rescue KPK investigator Novel Baswedan from blatant criminalization.

There are concerns that the KPK under the leadership of Agus Rahardjo will be incapable of facing such heavy challenges, much less fight all out against corruption. But we continue to hope that our predictions and our fears are misplaced. (*)

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