Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- More than 300,000 people in Indonesia have joined a protest on networking site Facebook against last week’s arrest of two anti-graft body officers, and students plan street rallies for the same cause today.

Police Oct. 29 arrested Corruption Eradication Commission deputies Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Rianto on allegations they abused their power when they issued travel bans against targets of corruption investigations.

Anti-graft groups and religious leaders have accused the national police of using the case to weaken the KPK, as the agency is known. Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri has denied any friction exists between the two law-enforcement agencies. The KPK has convicted governors, politicians, policemen and a relative of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono since it was formed in December 2003.

“If KPK is being put to death, that’s really nice for corruptors who are clapping as they see what has happened,” said a posting on the Facebook page supporting the KPK deputies signed with the name Nur Hidayati. The online protest was created by Usman Yasin, a lecturer at Muhammadiyah University in Bengkulu on Sumatra island.

The case against the KPK officers and increasing public comment have put pressure on Yudhoyono, who started his second term on Oct. 20 pledging to end corruption in state agencies to attract more investment. Indonesia ranks 126th in Transparency International’s corruption-perception index for 2008, up from 143 a year earlier but lower than Nigeria and Vietnam.

In an Oct. 30 televised address, Yudhoyono said if he interferes with the case, the justice system “will be ripped apart,” adding he’ll let police and prosecutors build the case.

Police Response

Two hours after the president’s speech, Danuri held a press briefing in which he denied the investigation was manufactured. Danuri said the two deputies violated a procedure that obliged the KPK’s five leaders to reach a collective decision before issuing a travel ban.

Danuri said a money trail has been found from a tycoon to a middleman saying he could bribe KPK officials to cancel a travel ban. Hamzah and Rianto have denied any wrongdoing.

Police named Hamzah and Rianto as suspects in September after receiving tips from KPK chief Antasari Azhar, who is now on trial for allegedly orchestrating a murder, that there were irregularities in how the agency issues travel bans. Yudhoyono suspended Hamzah and Rianto on Sept. 21. They remained free as long as they reported their whereabouts to police.

The Oct. 29 arrest was prompted by media briefings at the KPK office, sometimes televised live, defending the suspects and criticizing how police handled the case.

‘Disturbed Investigation’

Hamzah and Rianto have “disturbed the investigation with their media appearances,” Ketut Yoga Ana, a spokesman at national police headquarters, said in a phone interview last week. “The media should not become a tribunal. If they had problems with the investigation, they should’ve brought them straight to the police, not to the public.”

Under Indonesian law, police can arrest a suspect and hold him until the case reaches court if investigators deem the person can flee or tamper with evidence.

KPK and its partner, the Corruption Crimes Court, were formed less than six years ago as an alternative to pursuing cases through Indonesia’s regular justice system. The special agencies have won the trust of Indonesians who are fed up with corruption in more established bodies, said Febri Diansyah, a researcher at the Indonesian Corruption Watch, a non- governmental anti-graft group.

The KPK “has unraveled the web involving business people, politicians and some officials in the government,” he said.

Yudhoyono invited experts yesterday to advise him on how to handle the case.

“What we wished was transparency in this legal process so that suspicions that are developing within the public can be resolved,” said Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor from the University of Indonesia, after the meeting.

“The president is very concerned with opinions that have been building up saying as if the government is mistreating people,” Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring told reporters on Oct. 30.

To contact the reporter on this story: Achmad Sukarsono in Jakarta asukarsono@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 1, 2009 23:58 EST