Destry Damayanti Chair: We Want The Kpk To Regain Its Authority

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - When President Joko Widodo appointed nine women for the panel to select new commissioners to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on May 21, it set the mainstream and social media buzzing for weeks. First, it was because the panel consisted of an all-female cast, and second, because of doubts the team could manage the process of selecting commissioners for the fourth batch of KPK leaders. This was especially the case when the person appointed to lead the team was Destry Damayanti, a Bank Mandiri economist, who is a relatively unknown public figure, but well-recognized by activists involved in the anti-corruption movement.

The spotlight focused on Destry's alleged close relations with State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Rini Soemarno. Destry had, in fact, been asked by Rini to prepare a study of economic resilience. She was also asked to draft a road map for the SOEs Ministry. But before she was able to complete her assignments, she was picked by the president to lead the KPK Selection Panel. Inevitably, charges emerged that Destry was intentionally placed in her current position by Rini.

Destry knew this would happen. So, her one goal is to foster trust among her fellow panelists by clarifying the whole issue to them. The issue seems to be her one concern. When she met with Tempo reporters Tulus Wijanarko, Isma Savitri, and Muhammad Rizki, she made it a point to explain that her closeness to Rini was purely professional.

Destry and her team have approached a number of state institutions and government agencies to get their views and comments on the selection process. As enthusiastically, she also told her fellow panelists they had dig deeper to find the appropriate candidate to lead the KPK. She told them, 'we will have to go get the ball' (not wait like now), something that distinguishes her team from the previous one.

The panel has been divided into teams, in search of candidates with different backgrounds. The results will be submitted to Destry, who then passes them on to the president. As befitting the era of social media, the team even has a WhatsApp account to detail their progress publicly. It's named, appropriately enough, the Srikandi Nine (Srikandi is a figure in the ancient wayang or puppetry stories of a woman who fought as bravely as the men-Ed.) "In puppetry, Srikandi is a strong and fearless character," said Destry. Excerpts of the interview.

Which institutions will you be meeting with?

We have asked for feedback and comments from all stakeholders, both individual and institutional. For example, we spoke to leaders of the five religions and with the KPK.

What was discussed at the meeting with the KPK?

We told them there was a serious lack of effective communication and good coordination between the KPK and other law enforcement agencies. So far, the impression is that the KPK is more focused on getting as many indictments as possible, but this is hampered by problems like the number of limited KPK staff to process them, causing many cases to be delayed. The consequence is not good. One indicted person had to wait a whole year before his case was processed. I am trying to be fair but the KPK must create its scale of priorities, because this is an issue of limitations, like the economy. The economy follows a choice theory. We want a lot but we have limitations so we must be strategic in determining cases.

The KPK submitted 17 criteria for the candidates. Are those criteria in line with the philosophy of the panel?

All of the 17 criteria proposed by the KPK would be difficult to fulfil, but it seems they are more collegial in nature, so we agreed with them. The standard main criteria must be integrity and never having committed a legal violation. This became a heated topic of discussion among the panelists because this criteria has never changed. What we added was that the KPK leader must know about the situation when it happens. So, he must have the capacity to work within a team and be able to coordinate internally and externally. External coordination, for example, means communicating with other institutions, because the KPK's task is not only to indict people, but to also supervise [its legal process].

KPK advisors say this fourth batch of KPK leaders should ideally consist of three legal experts, one IT expert and one expert in management. Is this what the selection panel also envisions?

Our emphasis is that the future KPK leadership will be heterogenous, but we are not specifying its composition. This is because going forward, financial crimes will be on the increase. So a knowledge of banking and the capital market is also important.

How does the selection panel envision this batch of KPK leaders?

There should a KPK leader with a legal background who is able to understand legal and court documents, whether its from the Attorney General's Office or the police. There must also be an expert in preventing corruption, because so far, this has been far numerous in the past than actual criminal indictments. And because the KPK must oversee government violations, it would be good if the leaders come from different backgrounds. The first batch of KPK leaders were more heterogenous. So it would be good to have someone who can audit, who can communicate effectively and who is good at prevention measures.

It's easy to find competent people, but those who are willing to sacrifice time and everything else just to eradicate corruption are hard to find. How would you go looking for someone like that?

There is one particular recommendation from the KPK which we approve of. And that is that the candidate must have no personal problems. In other words, he should dedicate himself to the state. [He should accept] however much salary he receives from the KPK and to no one else. Indeed, finding someone with integrity is very difficult because we have no way as yet, to measure it. So, what we can do is just look at his record.

A doctor from the Health Ministry yesterday said there's something called an 'effective brain assessment' to measure integrity. This is something new, and has never been used. The approach is medical, assuming integrity is affected by the composition in our brains. Perhaps the next selection panel would be able to use this method.

Is the selection panel working with other institutions in this selection process?

At the assessment stage, we work together with institutions like the KPK, the police and the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK). We will also be working with the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and leaders of religions, as well as civil society. We are involving as many formal and non-formal institutions to track down the records of the candidates. This is how we minimize 'small issues becoming a problem midway', like the current problem faced by the KPK. So, we will verify these various feedbacks with the candidates themselves during the interview stage. At that time, we will also look at whether the candidate has the capacity to work with a team, because a KPK leader is unlikely to be a one-man show. Everyone must be collegial.

Do you mean unlike the third batch of KPK leaders?

I didn't say that, but you must know [what I mean]. It's best that they have different competence and come from various backgrounds. (*)

Read the full interview in this week’s edition of Tempo English Magazine