The city of Malang in East Java has lost almost the entirety of its city council (DPRD) to a massive corruption investigation that appears unprecedented in scale, even for graft-plagued Indonesia.
Yesterday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named 22 Malang DPRD members suspects in a huge bribery scandal. The KPK had already named 18 of the city’s lawmakers suspects in the same case in March and another one in August 2017, bringing the total number of suspects in the DPRD up to 41 out of a total of 45.
“The KPK has found enough initial evidence to begin investigations on 22 Malang DPRD members for the period of 2014-2019,” KPK Deputy Chief Basaria Panjaitan said in a press conference in Jakarta yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Basaria said that the 22 lawmakers are suspected of receiving bribes of up to IDR50 million (US$3,350) each from then-Mayor Mochamad Anton to smooth negotiations between the administration and the DPRD regarding the 2015 city budget. Mochamad was also arrested by the KPK in March and was sentenced to two years in prison for bribery in August.
As a corruption suspect, Mochamad ran for reelection this year against two other candidates including DPRD member Yaqud Ananda Gudban, who is also a suspect in the case. Both lost in the election.
Due to the unprecedented percentage of DPRD members that have been arrested, there are now fears about the fate of Malang’s government given the near total absence of a functioning legislative body, especially since the city administration and DPRD are in the midst of discussing revisions to the 2018 city budget and drafting the 2019 city budget.
Abdurrochman, who assumed the speaker position for the four remaining politicians in the DPRD (who are either clean or the KPK can’t find any dirt on them), says he is going to appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs to allow the DPRD to resume its role in the city’s governance in the immediate future.
“Whatever happens the government cannot be paralyzed,” he told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has not revealed what measures they will take to ensure a functioning government in Malang.
The KPK has so far taken 19 DPRD members into custody, though it’s not yet known if or when the latest 22 to be named suspects will follow suit. The anti-corruption body seemingly has no qualms about arresting almost the entirety of the Malang DPRD, saying that they expect political parties to find replacements for all of them.