Audit agency should be empowered: Activists<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Anti-corruption activists say widespread corruption in
\nprocurements of goods and services in most units of the city
\nadministration cannot be stopped due to the alleged involvement
\nof the City Audit Agency (Bawasda).<\/p>\n
They say officials at the agency are not obliged to disclose
\ntheir findings on irregularities on certain procurements.
\nTherefore, according to the activists, they often compromise with
\nofficials of the working units over their findings.<\/p>\n
Chairman of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Teten Masduki
\nsaid on Thursday that empowering the agency could be the starting
\npoint to end corruption.<\/p>\n
\"The City Audit Agency should be independent and not be a sub-
\nordinate of the governor. Its members should be elected by the
\nCity Council, not be appointed by the governor,\" Teten told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Teten was commenting on corruption in the procurement of goods
\nand services in the city administration, where the value of
\ncorrupted funds could amount to as much as 35 percent of the
\ntotal allocated funds.<\/p>\n
Procurement in the city administration involves a large amount
\nof money. It is estimated to account for Rp 2.2 trillion of the
\ncity's Rp 5.7 trillion routine spending in 2002.<\/p>\n
Teten also stressed that the findings of irregularities by the
\nCity Audit Agency needed to be made transparent. He said the
\nagency should be obliged to announce their findings to the
\npublic.<\/p>\n
Besides empowering the auditing agency, the city
\nadministration should improve its bureaucratic system, which
\nremains vulnerable to corruption.<\/p>\n
Marco Kusumawijaya, an urban observer, shared Teten's opinion,
\nsaying the city administration's current internal auditing was
\npart of the problem, because he alleged that most of the auditors
\nwere corrupt.<\/p>\n
\"As a taxpayer, I am disappointed that my money is badly spent
\nby officials. Therefore, the auditing process should be improved
\nby inviting people who are credible and possess some integrity to
\nwork at the audit agency,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
He also said the administration should involve the public as
\ntaxpayers should also help supervise the procurement of goods and
\nservices, by inviting their representatives to become members of
\nthe tender committee.<\/p>\n
He said that in many countries, taxpayers play a significant
\nrole in controlling government spending and complain to the
\ngovernment if the money is spent improperly.<\/p>\n
\"I think we should encourage public participation in
\ncontrolling the government's spending, because if it works well,
\nit will be a significant move against corruption,\" said Marco,
\nwho is a gubernatorial candidate.<\/p>",
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