Indonesian Anti-graft Watchdogs to be Ousted Over President’s Objections
Suspect test used as pretext to get rid of KPK’s most effective sleuths
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo appears to have failed to save the jobs of 51 employees of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), an indication of the power of anti-sleaze forces in the country in seeking to emasculate the fabled watchdog agency.
The dismissed employees, who include some of the agency’s most celebrated investigators, were among 75 ordered removed after supposedly failing a controversial “National Insight Test” or TWK on the basis of a provision requiring the employees to pass the test in order to change their status to civil service. The test, administered by the National Civil Service Agency, included what critics said was a dubious oral interview process.