'When we do something significant, we always have to sacrifice something. We become a martyr for a good cause,' he said.

Mr Antasari's poor social life is the measure of the success of the KPK, a body established five years ago, in the dying days of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri's administration.

Back then, most observers thought the new body would sink into the mire of sleaze that has characterised Indonesian politics and business since Suharto's three-decade reign fostered a culture of favours for money. Graft still permeates every level of society and has been a brake on Indonesia's growth and development.

Yet, under the tutelage of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the KPK has surprised many. In the past two years, incredulous observers have seen once untouchable figures being put in the dock and sent to jail.

The first big fish was Abdullah Puteh, the former governor of Aceh, who in 2005 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for siphoning off state money while procuring a Russian-made MI-2 helicopter for his province.

The latest to face the music is lawmaker Sarjan Taher, who in mid-January pleaded guilty to accepting 5 billion rupiah (HK$3.27 million) in bribes related to a protected forest conversion in South Sumatra. He was sent to prison for 41/2 years.

Sarjan is the fourth current or former lawmaker to be jailed this year. In 2008, several former ambassadors, senior bank managers and bureaucrats exchanged their luxurious apartments for shared cells in one of Jakarta's detention centres. Among them was Burhanuddin Abdullah, the former governor of the country's central bank, the Bank Indonesia, who was jailed last year for graft.

Among the dozens currently on trial is Aulia Pohan, the deputy governor of the Bank Indonesia, who also happens to be the father-in-law of Dr Susilo's eldest son. Dr Susilo did not interfere, enhancing his own reputation, as well as that of the KPK.

Indonesians have wearily praised the KPK's efforts, but the common opinion is that it is just starting to scrape the surface.

No one was surprised, for example, to hear Sarjan telling the judges that 'taking bribes is normal in the House in exchange for a favour' and that, if he had not taken the money, 'my friends [in the House] would question why, accusing me of taking all the money for myself'.

Parliament has long been considered among the most corrupt institutions in a very corrupt country. In its 2008 Corruption Perception Index, Transparency International raised the archipelago's standing to 126, but it still tied with the likes of Ethiopia, Guyana and Libya. The year before, Indonesia was ranked 143rd.

Mr Antasari said the KPK could not fight all corruption battles - it handles only high-profile cases, and its trials account for just 2 per cent of the corruption cases that go to court in Indonesia - but he stressed that it was pushing the government to overhaul its internal monitoring systems and was dedicated to changing the mindset of public officials.

'We want them to understand that they are there to serve the people and not the other way around,' he said.

Danang Widoyoko, the co-ordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said that at the very least the 'KPK gave hope that corruption can be eradicated and the corruptors can be punished'.

'And that is not a small change,' he added.

Mr Danang and other experts agree that the following few months will be crucial for the KPK - and for the future of the anti-corruption drive.

'The issue at stake is the faltering political support,' he said.

Some lawmakers have been alarmed by the KPK's activities, and have called for closer scrutiny of the agency's phone tapping in particular, citing privacy and human rights concerns.

However, the KPK's future success depends to a large extent on the continued existence of the Anti-Corruption Court.

The court's future has been in doubt ever since a ruling by the Constitutional Court in December 2006 on a judicial review filed by Mulyana W. Kusumah and Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, two former officials convicted of corruption.

The ruling stated that the Anti-Corruption Court gave rise to a 'legal duplicity', since both it and the criminal courts dealt with corruption. It ordered the court disbanded within three years, unless Parliament enacted a law mandating its existence.

A draft of the Anti-Corruption Court Bill has been reviewed positively by most experts. It provides that all corruption cases will be tried in the Anti-Corruption Court, that branches are to be established in each regency, and that anti-graft judges will not sit in other courts. Yet it is the speed of the process that worries most people.

Collectively, the Susilo administration and lawmakers have shown a lack of urgency in deliberating on the bill before its December 2009 deadline.

Although the issue came up two years ago, the draft reached Parliament only last September.

It is doubtful whether there will be enough time for proper deliberation.

Mr Danang said it was already too late. 'There is not enough time to debate it properly, and even if enacted, the bill would be a rush job,' he said.

Indra Samego, a political scientist at the Indonesia Institute of Science and the founder of the Centre for Corruption Studies, doubts it will be enacted at all. 'I am pessimistic because lawmakers' minds are not any more in Senayan [the site of the Parliament building]. Now, they are only thinking about how to get as much support as possible in the election,' he said.

Indonesia holds legislative and parliamentary elections in April, to be followed in July by the presidential vote.

Frenky Simanjuntak, manager of research at Transparency International Indonesia, said the KPK's work would be hindered if it had no dedicated court.

'There is no doubt about that. The KPK can continue its work but, without the Anti-Corruption Court, it will be much weaker,' he said.

The court has stricter procedures than criminal courts and judges have to abide by stringent deadlines in completing the various stages of a trial. This provision has helped the KPK to short-circuit Indonesia's notoriously slow legal system. Moreover, the Anti-Corruption Court is run by ad hoc, non-career judges, who are drafted from non-judicial legal backgrounds. Experts argue that this system has limited the incidence of judges accepting bribes or making compromises to further their careers.

The Anti-Corruption Court has also consistently proved tougher than its criminal counterparts. Last year, the KPK took 21 cases to court and all 21 accused were convicted. In the process, the KPK claimed that it had recovered 410-billion-rupiah worth of state assets.

In contrast, according to Corruption Watch, of the 196 defendants tried in criminal courts in the first half of 2008, more than half were freed. Of the 92 found guilty, 76 received sentences of less than 2 years in jail.

Mr Antasari said that he had already met lawmakers to give his opinion and that 'there are no more reasons to delay the passing of the bill'.

If the bill were not enacted, Indonesia's standing would suffer as 'our partners abroad would wonder why it happened', he said.

In the meantime, however, he said he remained 'positive' and was, no doubt, prepared to spend many more nights in.

Small organisation that goes after the big guns

Staff and budget: The KPK is a small organisation with a budget of 232 billion rupiah (HK$151.8 million) and a staff of 550. They are aided by 80 police, 25 public prosecutors and 102 auditors seconded from the Finance Development Controller and the Supreme Audit Agency

Duties: Investigating and bringing charges in corruption cases that involve law-enforcement authorities and politicians and those that involve state losses of at least 1 billion rupiah

Powers: It can tap and record conversations; order bans on leaving the country; ask banks for clarifications regarding the finances of suspects; and order accounts to be frozen. It can also order that suspects be temporarily removed from their posts

Co-operation: The KPK has signed an agreement with the FBI to strengthen ties. Some agents are to be trained in the US. It also works closely with Interpol