Former Corruption Eradication Commission investigations director Brig Gen Endar Priantoro shows his letter of dismissal after he lodged a complaint with the commission’s supervisory board in Jakarta on April 4, 2023. - Antara
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): A National Police general who was dismissed from a concurrently held position at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is dragging his former superiors before the commission’s supervisory board to contest his termination, the latest in a brewing power struggle that observers say could influence the 2024 election.
On Tuesday (April 4), Brig Gen Endar Priantoro filed a complaint against KPK chief Firli Bahuri and secretary general Cahya Harefa with the supervisory board. He alleged that the two had committed an ethics violation by relieving him of his duties as KPK investigations director against the wishes of National Police Chief Gen Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
Endar claimed Listyo had signed a letter calling for his tenure at the KPK to be extended for another year.
“The police chief ordered me to continue carrying out my duties at the KPK, in accordance with an assignment letter dated March 29,” Endar told reporters in Jakarta.
However, Endar said he received a termination letter signed by Cahya on March 31. The KPK also terminated prosecutions and execution deputy Karyoto, who was later appointed Jakarta Police chief.
The two figures were reportedly instrumental in hampering KPK chief Firli’s investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding the Jakarta administration’s hosting of a Formula E electric motorsports race in 2022.
IM57+ Institute chair Praswad Nugraha said it was rare for the KPK to fire employees and claimed the move indicated Firli had an ulterior motive.
“It was coercion because Endar refused to approve raising the status of the Formula E investigation, so the current controversy cannot be separated from this larger context,” Praswad said in a statement on Tuesday.
IM57+ is an antigraft organisation set up by former KPK employees who were terminated on a technicality after failing what was officially referred to as a “civic knowledge test”.
A revised KPK Law passed in 2019 that was widely seen as the death knell for the commission’s independence required all its employees to become registered civil servants by 2021.
The civic knowledge test was a mandatory part of that process, but critics contended it contained irrelevant and biased questions. Listyo later offered the employees terminated as a result of the test a berth at the National Police headquarters.
Separately, former antigraft commissioner Bambang Widjojanto also suggested that the dismissal was related to the KPK’s handling of the Formula E case.
"The act of dismissing the KPK’s investigations director cannot be separated from the context of the political year, in which there are indications that some KPK leaders tried to name [potential presidential candidate] Anies Baswedan a suspect," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Formula E race, held in Jakarta in June of last year, was one of Anies’ flagship programmes during his time as the city’s governor.
KPK investigators began scrutinising the contract for the event last year and summoned a number of figures linked to it for questioning, including then-Jakarta governor Anies.
Endar declined to comment on any connection between his termination and the Formula E case.
“I'm not going to talk about whether this is related to the handling of Formula E or not. To be sure, I am currently just reviewing this decision,” he said.
Firli was not available for comment, but KPK spokesman Ali Fikri said the decision to honorably discharge Endar was based on the absence of a request to the National Police to extend his term.
