JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The number of people supporting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) through the internet-based social communication service "Facebook" reached the target number of one million on Saturday, the campaign’s initiator said.   "This is only the beginning," said Usman Yasin who took the initiative to mobilize  "Face-bookers" support for the KPK after feeling outraged about what he thought were unjust police actions against two of the anti-graft body’s leaders.
    
Usman, a lecturer at Muhammadiyah University in Bengkulu, in an interview with Metro TV, also said his effort  had shown that Facebook was a social network that was capable of effectively voicing public opinion in a direct and undistorted way.  "I myself never thought, it could do this," he said, adding he had begun inviting other Facebookers’ opinions on the KPK-Police conflict on October 29, following the arrest of suspended KPK deputy chiefs Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah.  
    
He said he was moved by the fact that his initiative was not only responded to positively by people in the country but also by Indonesians  abroad.  Usman said he hoped Facebook could also prove to be a useful tool  for the public to help solve other national problems.
    
In the meantime, following President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s decision to form an independent team to verify the lawfulness  of the two KPK leaders’ arrest and the replaying of a recording of wiretapped conversations between a businessman and some ranking law enforcement officials suggesting the existence of a plot to frame Bibit and Chandra, the duo were released on Tuesday.