The government establishes the National Police Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipikor). Is it a place for sharing positions and a tool to legitimize power?
INSTEAD of bringing new hope, the establishment of the Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipikor) in the National Police (Polri) has given rise to skepticism. At a time when the eradication of corruption in this country is in decline, it is only fair that we ask: does the government really want to battle corruption, or is it simply adding a new institution without addressing the root causes of the problem?
Kortas Tipikor was established through Presidential Regulation No. 122/2024 signed by Joko Widodo. The new body exists at the same level as the Criminal Investigation Department, led by a three-star general, and has been given wide-ranging authority—from guidance and prevention to the investigation of corruption and money laundering. But it is right to question the legitimacy of this authority, given that Kortas Tipikor exists within an institution in which trust is in decline.
According to a survey by Indikator Politik Indonesia released in January 2025, the level of public trust in the National Police is at 69 percent. This is below the level of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK, 72 percent) and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO, 79 percent). The Police corps is in the bottom three, along with the House of Representatives and the political parties. This is a reflection of the fundamental problem: the integrity of the institution has not been restored.
The establishment of Kortas Tipikor also shows the weakness of the institutional approach to eradicating corruption. The government appears to place too much trust in the idea that the solution can be found through the formation of a new institution. However, without comprehensive reforms to the bureaucratic culture and the internal structure of the National Police, which is rife with conflicts of interest, a new institution will simply give the appearance of fighting corruption.
The public still remembers the birth of the KPK in 1999 against the background of the inability of the AGO and the police to properly eradicate corruption. Now, when an institution previously considered as having failed is given extensive powers, people have every right to be dubious. Even more so if the collaboration promised with the KPK and the AGO is only a slogan, not a reality. And there is the historical record of the “gecko versus crocodile” conflict in 2009 as evidence of the fragile nature of the cooperation between law enforcement agencies. The nuances of competition in the handling of corruption cases are still apparent.
At a time when the political climate is showing the strengthening of authoritarianism, concerns that Kortas Tipikor will simply become a tool of the government make sense. We have seen how the KPK lost its independence after the revision of the KPK Law in 2019. The KPK used to be an institution feared by corruptors, but now it is often accused of being used to target the government’s political opponents.
The eradication of corruption does not need more directorates, generals or new structures. What is needed is transparency, integrity and honesty—values that cannot be established simply through a structural approach. Without serious internal cleaning up, the eradication of corruption by Kortas Tipikor will be nothing more than trying to clean a muddy floor with a dirty broom.
As a result, what is pressing now is not the establishment of a new institution, but the restoration of an agency like the KPK to its original form: an independent institution to eradicate corruption. If not, the people will increasingly suspect that an organization like Kortas Tipikor is nothing more than a place for handing out positions or a tool to legitimize the government.
