Avoiding semantic chaos<\/p>\n
Since president Soeharto's resignation last month, people
\nhave been noisily calling for an end to corruption, collusion and
\nnepotism.<\/p>\n
People also discuss ways to avoid a recurrence of such illicit
\nbusiness practices and ridicule those they believe are at the
\nroot of the three evil diseases. The topic has become so popular
\nthat people here have given the three problems a popular acronym,
\nKKN, standing for 'korupsi', 'kolusi' and 'nepotisme'.<\/p>\n
While some people are busy discussing the matter, university
\nstudents are busy staging antigraft demonstrations. Some have
\ngone so far as to occupy local legislative council premises to
\npress reluctant legislators to support their cause.<\/p>\n
Calls for the dismissal of certain officials believed to have
\nbeen involved in KKN have become so hysterical that it is causing
\nconfusion among many bureaucrats. President B. J. Habibie has not
\nbeen spared from the onslaught. His younger brother Junus Effendy
\nquit his job as the head of the Batam Industrial Development
\nAuthority, and his son Ilham resigned as assistant to chief of
\nthe Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology
\n(BPPT) in a bid to stanch accusations of nepotism aimed at the
\nsenior Habibie.<\/p>\n
It is very tempting to speculate which of the three
\nbureaucratic diseases will claim the most casualties. Nepotism is
\nthe flavor of the week, mainly because people consider it the
\neasiest charge to prove.<\/p>\n
It is quite understandable because in the present political
\nculture -- inherited from the Soeharto era -- corruption has
\nfrustratingly challenged law enforcement agencies because corrupt
\nofficials have been able to keep the law at bay and intimidate
\nthe public into accepting corruption. Proof of the country's
\ncorrupt mentality was evident in the nonchalance of local
\nauthorities to the results of a survey reported by the Hong Kong-
\nbased Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC) last
\nyear proclaiming Indonesia the most corrupt country in Asia.<\/p>\n
Besides, probes into corruption and collusion cases have
\nalways run aground whenever powerful officials have been
\ninvolved. The principle of equal justice under the law is still a
\ndream here. There has also been a lack of morality in the
\nhandling of corruption cases.<\/p>\n
To avoid innocent people falling victim to public outrage, the
\ngovernment said on Thursday it would soon issue comprehensive
\ncriteria on what actions constitute corruption, collusion and
\nnepotism.<\/p>\n
We can imagine how tricky the job will be. Cabinet members
\nhave witnessed how tangled is the illicit web of doing business
\nhere and how impotent our legal system is in the face of a
\ncorrupt regime. In the recent past, it was common for the
\npresident's children to gain government multimillion dollar
\nprojects without tender.<\/p>\n
Last week, former vice president Sudharmono and two former
\nministers tried hard to convince the public that all the
\nfoundations set up by Soeharto were purely private ventures which
\ngained \"voluntary\" financial support from many parties.<\/p>\n
We believe that Sudharmono and his colleagues must be aware
\nthat it was impossible to separate Soeharto from his presidency
\n-- or his ironhanded rule, to be more precise -- or for anybody
\nto turn down his requests because that would be suicidal. The
\nmanipulative activities were rampant in the absence of
\ntransparency.<\/p>\n
What Sudharmono, or Soeharto, seems to have forgotten is a
\nsaying by Abraham Lincoln: You can fool some people some time,
\nyou can even fool whole people some time, but you cannot fool
\nwhole people the whole time.<\/p>\n
We hope the government will not resort to this kind of
\nillogical thinking in making the criteria for corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism in order to avoid legal semantic
\nconfusion.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/avoiding-semantic-chaos-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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