TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) assessed that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has failed to contribute to strengthening the anti-corruption agenda. This is in consideration of the stagnant discussion on the asset forfeiture bill.

“ICW doubts that the asset forfeiture bill will be passed into law,” ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana said at the ICW Study House on Monday, January 29. He expressed his pessimism in light of the President's pseudo-commitment to ratifying the bill during his two terms in office.

“This affirms that in nine years of government regime, President Jokowi has done nothing to strengthen the anti-corruption agenda,” Kurnia emphasized.

ICW noted that only 7.8 percent or Rp3.8 trillion of the Rp48.7 trillion in state losses in 2022 were granted as compensation.

The lack of regulation on asset forfeiture, he went on, led to insufficient efforts to recover state losses from criminal acts of corruption.

The bill was included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2023 after 12 years of proposal by the House of Representatives (DPR). “Although the ball is in the DPR, the government seems to be half-hearted in pushing for accelerated discussion and ratification,” Kurnia added.

This also raises public concern, as the government has been actively pushing for the ratification of other initiative bills, such as the Omnibus Law on Job Creation, the Omnibus Law on Health, or the Mining Bill.

“If there is no policy breakthrough before the end of his term, history will record that President Jokowi will be remembered by the public as a president who is anti-corruption eradication,” the ICW researcher concluded.

NOVALI PANJI NUGROHO

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