The House of Representatives on Thursday selected Busyro Muqoddas to be the new chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after two rounds of voting.

In the first round of votes, Busyro was selected by members of the House’s legal affairs commission to be a member of the KPK leadership, beating out the only other candidate, lawyer-activist Bambang Widjojanto.

After winning the post as KPK deputy chairman, Busyro moved on to the next round of votes, where 43 of the 55 legislators appointed him new chairman, beating out the other four deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Rianto, Chandra M. Hamzah, Har-yono Umar and M. Jasin.

Haggling between legislators marked both votes, with most arguments concentrating around the technicalities of the selection process.

Before the first round of votes, legislators argued on both the period of tenure of the new deputy and whether the new deputy should automatically be chairman as well.

Eight of the nine parties in the House decided that the new deputy would serve until December 2011 to fulfill the remaining tenure of former KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who is serving an 18-year prison sentence for murder.

Legislators also decided to hold a second round of votes to ensure that both the newly appointed and current deputy chairmen had equal shots at the position of chairman.

Legislators locked horns once more at the start of the second round, with Golkar Party legislators steadfastly holding votes instead of choosing the new chairman in acclamation. Legislators from the other eight parties finally ceded and held another round of votes, which Busyro won in a landslide.

Busyro’s win and its potential impact on the future of the KPK has received mixed responses from legislators and activists.

Many observers placed high hopes on Busyro to revitalize the KPK’s performance, which has been hard hit by two high-profile cases: Antasari’s murder conviction, and on-again-off-again charges pressed against Bibit and Chandra for alleged abuse of power and attempted extortion of a graft suspect.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Eva K. Sundari said whoever was appointed would not significantly impact the work of the KPK.

She said the tenure, which would last for one year, was too brief to create any lasting changes.

“That’s why the PDI-P did not favor one candidate over the other,” she said. “In order to be effective, the newly elected candidate must take time to become familiar with the internal working of the KPK.”

House Commission III deputy chairman Fahri Hamzah said the public had to wait and see whether Busyro would perform as hoped for.

“I personally doubt his firmness,” he said, adding that Busyro’s would show his true colors once at the KPK.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) activist Donal Fariz said the KPK had to resolve all cases now that it had a new chairman.

“The new head should have more energy in dealing with the case of Gayus H. Tambunan,” Donal said.

He added that Busyro would have more energy compared to the older deputy chairmen since he was unaffected by the protracted 2009 saga pitting the police against the KPK, popularly dubbed Cicak vs Buaya (Lizard vs Crocodile), which is believed to have weakened the KPK.

“I am optimistic that the KPK will be better,” he said. (gzl)