TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Elected Chair of Transparency International in 2023, François Valérian has faced the challenge of leading nearly 100 chapters of the global anti-corruption organization. In recent years, for example, the nonprofit’s offices in Russia and Venezuela have come under repression from local authorities.
In Venezuela, several information technology staff members left the country after Nicolás Maduro won the fraud-tainted July 2024 presidential election. The exodus was intended to avoid arrest by the Venezuelan authorities. Maduro—who was captured by the United States government in January 2026—had maintained a harsh stance toward civil society.
Russia is not much different. “There are many countries where there is no space for civil society,” Valérian said during a visit to Tempo’s office in Jakarta on Thursday, June 25, 2026. The French national was accompanied by J. Danang Widoyoko, Secretary-General of Transparency International Indonesia.
In an interview lasting about an hour and a half, Valérian expressed concern over the weakening of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). He said anti-corruption agencies in many countries have been losing resources and independence.
He also shared his views on President Prabowo Subianto’s populist policies and criticized the Patriot Bond, a government bond program that would grant buyers immunity from criminal prosecution. The history scholar from Université Paris Nanterre, France, also discussed the growing global trend toward the concentration of political power, including in Indonesia.
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