Corruption Eradication Committee investigation into controversial Whoosh Project
Renowned economist Anthony Budiawan has called on law enforcement agencies, including the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to immediately intervene in the investigation into the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Train (KCJB) or Project Whoosh controversy. He believes law enforcement officials have a responsibility to be transparent with the public about who is responsible for the project.
The Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) must investigate how this process could have happened and who is responsible for it, said Anthony Budiawan in a video podcast uploaded to Bambang Widjojanto’s YouTube channel on Thursday, October 30, 2025. He believes that an investigation must be carried out to obtain clarification on the involvement of different parties in this project.
Anthony then brought up Agus Pambagio’s claim that the acquisition of the Whoosh project was the wish of Indonesia’s 7th President, Joko Widodo. He questioned whether it was true that the President was directly responsible or whether there were elements under his command who played a role in the project.
Is there anyone besides Jokowi? Was the Ministry of State Enterprises considered the owner of the project then or was Luhut also present? he added. Anthony said Luhut, although yet to serve as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, was often present in various government policies.
According to Anthony, the KPK can no longer play because this case involves state financial losses amounting to between 4.5 and 7 billion US dollars. He believes that the investigation must be carried out quickly and transparently.
Highlights of Luhut’s statement regarding Whoosh
Emphasis is also placed on Luhut’s statement who called the Whoosh project rotten when it was introduced in Indonesia. Anthony highlighted this statement, which was made by Luhut when he was transferred to Marves Coordinating Minister in 2019.
“Here we also see Luhut’s very interesting statement. When I received this project it was rotten, so when he was transferred in 2019 as Coordinating Minister of Marves he said this project was rotten,” Anthony said. He believed that this statement showed that this project had been in difficulty since 2019.
The question now is how will Luhut explain his statement? Anthony believes this statement raises big questions about who is responsible for the problems that occurred.
Efforts to wash hands and find black goats
In the video, Anthony also claimed there were indications of efforts to wash their hands and look for a scapegoat in the matter. According to him, the main target is Rini Soemarno, former Minister of State Enterprises for the period 2014-2019 under the Jokowi administration.
It’s a program to wash your hands and then look for a scapegoat, who? Yes, the project leader at the time, explained Anthony. He considered that Rini Soemarno was definitely involved in this project because she was responsible for the state enterprises under her command.
Corruption Eradication Committee vows to probe alleged Whoosh surcharge case
The Corruption Eradication Commission itself stated that it was proactive in conducting investigations into the Whoosh Project budget inflation case. Acting Deputy (Plt) for Implementation and Execution of the Corruption Eradication Commission Asep Guntur Rahayu said the anti-graft agency has an obligation to follow up if there is information related to criminal acts of corruption.
“We are not waiting, we are also looking for information,” Asep said at the KPK Red and White Building, Kuningan, South Jakarta, to the media team on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. He believed that the investigation should be carried out transparently and based on accurate data.
Mahfud MD blamed the Whoosh project fund markup in an official YouTube broadcast of Mahfud MD which was uploaded on October 14, 2025. He said that the cost per kilometer of the Whoosh train in Indonesia reached 52 million US dollars, while in China it was only 17-18 million US dollars. This shows a threefold increase.
Who raises? Where does the money go? Triple. 17 million US dollars, yes, US dollars, not rupees, per kilometer, it becomes 52 million US dollars in Indonesia. Well, that’s a markup. “We need to investigate who did this first,” Mahfud MD said in the podcast.
Based on these allegations, Corruption Eradication Committee Chairman Setyo Budiyanto said Mahfud MD could make a report based on supporting data. “If Pak Mahfud conveys it like this, I hope there will be information, data and documents that can support the clarity of what he conveyed,” Setyo told the media team in Jakarta on October 16, 2025.
