JAKARTA. Longtime Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi on Monday announced his resignation from the position he has held since 2006, three years after the antigraft body was established in 2003. Johan, who was recruited in the early years of the KPK, said he would not be retiring from the KPK following his resignation, but would assume a new post as deputy for prevention unit. “I passed the selection process for the deputy for prevention unit position. I will be inaugurated for the new post this Friday,” Johan said at the KPK headquarters on Monday.
He said that he did not want to speculate as to who would take over his post as spokesman. “It is the authority of the KPK leaders to appoint someone for the post.” “KPK leaders will announce who will replace me on Friday,” Johan added. KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said on Monday that the KPK would hold an open recruitment to select Johan’s successor, but declined to say more than that. KPK commissioner Busyro Muqoddas, who is competing to win a second term after his current tenure ends in December, said that the position of spokesman was important because it kept the public abreast of KPK investigations. He requested that Johan act as interim spokesman until his replacement had been chosen. “For the time of being, he will serve both as the KPK deputy for prevention unit and as spokesman,” Busyro said. Responding to Busyro’s request, Johan said that he would comply. “If that is what KPK commissioners have decided, then I have no reason to decline. I am prepared to hold both positions temporarily,” Johan said. Johan worked as a journalist with a number of media outlets for almost two decades before joining the KPK in 2003.
Before assuming his position as spokesman, Johan served as the KPK director for education and public service from 2003-2006. “I worked as a journalist for 10 years. I wrote about corruption during my time as a journalist, but I decided that I wanted to be directly involved in the country’s corruption eradication efforts. That’s why I decided to take a detour and apply for a job with the KPK,” Johan said. “I am a first-generation KPK officer. Some of my colleagues who were recruited by the KPK in 2003 have already moved on, but I decided to stay. I love everything about corruption eradication efforts,” Johan went on. In 2011, Johan ran for KPK commissioner post but failed to pass the administration test. (Haeril Halim)
