Antigraft fight must begin with Cabinet: Activists<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Activist have welcomed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
\npledge to personally lead the country's fight against corruption,
\nbut suggested that he start with his own Cabinet members and the
\nBank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) cases.<\/p>\n
Transparency International Indonesia (TII)'s secretary-general
\nEmmy Hafild said Susilo would first have to purge his own inner
\ncircle and the Cabinet if he wanted his anticorruption campaign
\nto be credible.<\/p>\n
\"I really respect Susilo because he has been elected directly
\nby the people. Therefore, Susilo must be brave enough to act
\nresolutely against any of his ministers,\" Emmy told The Jakarta
\nPost on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Susilo, the country's first directly elected president, vowed
\nin his inauguration speech last Wednesday to lead the
\nanticorruption campaign himself, and told his ministers to shun
\ncorruption or face dismissal and prosecution.<\/p>\n
But according to Emmy, at least four of Susilo's Cabinet
\nmembers have dubious track records.<\/p>\n
She declined to name the ministers, but said that one of them
\nwas linked to the BLBI scandal, two were implicated in bribery
\nand another one's wealth had grown inordinately in a very short
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
\"So rich is this minister that his son drives a Jaguar sedan
\nto his school,\" said Emmy, referring to the minister whose
\nprospects had apparently blossomed overnight.<\/p>\n
Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) issued its latest
\ncorruption perception index last Wednesday, listing Indonesia as
\nthe world's fifth most corrupt country.<\/p>\n
Corruption has also been blamed for the prolonged economic
\ncrisis, which at one stage had pushed the country to the brink of
\nbankruptcy.<\/p>\n
In the first Cabinet meeting on Friday, Susilo told his
\nministers to use shock therapy to deal with the problems
\ncurrently confronting the country, particularly corruption.<\/p>\n
Emmy said President Susilo must reassure the public that his
\nCabinet members are clean if he wanted to keep the people's
\ntrust.<\/p>\n
Taking one example, she said that Jakarta residents had
\nmassively supported former president Megawati Soekarnoputri in
\nthe 1999 elections but abandoned her in the 2004 elections
\nbecause she failed to live up to voter expectations.<\/p>\n
Megawati, with her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
\n(PDI-P), won the 1999 elections, the first since the fall of
\nformer authoritarian leader Soeharto, but lost the 2004 election.<\/p>\n
Susilo must take action against ministers shown to have been
\ninvolved in corruption, she said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) deputy
\ncoordinator Luky Djani said high profile cases such as the BLBI
\nscandals should be prioritized to boost Susilo's image as an
\nanticorruption crusader.<\/p>\n
Luky stressed that the new administration would have to show
\nits commitment to fighting corruption or otherwise the public
\nwould not trust the statements made by state officials.<\/p>\n
\"I think Susilo must revoke Presidential Decree No.8\/2002,
\nwhich allowed state prosecutors to halt some of the BLBI
\ninvestigations,\" Luky said here on Saturday.<\/p>\n
At the height of economic crisis from 1997 to 1999, Bank
\nIndonesia, the central bank, pumped hundreds of trillions
\nof rupiah into the country's ailing banks as part of an effort to
\novercome the financial crisis.<\/p>\n
However, some banks misused the funds and thus were unable to
\nrepay the money, causing the state to lose around Rp 144
\ntrillion.<\/p>\n
According to Lucky, the country's rampant and systemic
\ncorruption could be eradicated in two ways -- enforcing the law
\nto the fullest possible extent and revamping the structure of the
\nbureaucracy in order to reduce irregularities in government
\nprocurement projects.<\/p>\n
\"Reforming the bureaucracy is a must, otherwise Susilo's
\ncorruption eradication strategy will be doomed to failure,\" Luky
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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