Indonesia elects lawyer as new anti-corruption leader

(Asia One) – JAKARTA – Indonesia revamped its corruption-fighting agency Friday with the election of a progressive lawyer as leader, amid widespread anger over government inaction on graft.

“What I’d like to do is focus on completing the big cases that the public have been waiting to see prosecuted,” Abraham Samad, the new chair of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), told Metro TV.

“We will try our best to collect enough evidence for each case to prosecute in the fairest way according to the law.”

The 45-year-old was named the new chair by a special House of Representatives team which also elected Bambang Widjojanto, a human rights activist and lawyer, as one of four commissioners.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s popularity has steadily fallen throughout his second term as the public loses faith in his fight against graft.

The KPK was the centrepiece of his 2009 election campaign, having achieved a 100 percent prosecution rate, putting some of the country’s most senior officials and business tycoons behind bars.

Samad will head the KPK until 2015 and replaces Busyro Muqoddas, a former prominent judge, who will be kept on as a commissioner.

Muqoddas was elected in 2010 to replace Antasari Azhar, who is serving an 18-year jail term for orchestrating the murder of a businessman in a scandal involving a love triangle with a young female golf caddie.

A Gallup poll released in October found that 91 percent of Indonesians believe corruption in government is widespread, compared to 84 percent in 2006.

On Thursday, Transparency International gave Indonesia a dismal score of three out of 10 for transparency among public officials and politicians, although its ranking improved from 110 last year to 100 out of 183 countries.