Can Chinea help RI eradicate corruption?<\/p>\n
Charles Himawan, Professor of Law, University of Indonesia,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
During his meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri on
\nWednesday, China's Premier, Zhu Rongji, emphasized China's
\nsupport for Indonesia's attempt to accelerate its economic
\nrecovery. But before Indonesia can do that, the country must be
\nfree of corruption. What better person than Zhu himself to advise
\nthe Indonesian leadership on how to eradicate corruption
\neffectively?<\/p>\n
Many wise men have advised us that corruption negates economic
\ndevelopment. Taking this cue, the Chinese leadership, believed to
\nbe spearheaded by Zhu, has come down very hard on corruptors,
\nparticularly the \"big fish\".<\/p>\n
The death sentence is imposed on them. The strategy is in line
\nwith a popular Chinese saying: To catch a snake, one must always
\ngo for its head. If you catch the body, the snake will surely
\nbite you.<\/p>\n
The big question is what is the result of Zhu Rongji\"s tactic
\nin catching the heads of the corruptors? If we take simple export
\nperformance as an indicator of a nation's economic strength, we
\ncan see a remarkable difference between Indonesia and China.<\/p>\n
When China first launched its semi-market economy in 1980,
\nIndonesia's exports were far ahead of China's (US$21.1 billion
\nversus 18 billion). This was a time when Indonesia's public
\nofficials were not as corrupt as today, and it was also the
\nbeginning of a campaign in China to eradicate corruption.<\/p>\n
Within five years, i.e. by 1985, Indonesia was left behind
\n($18.5 billion compared to $27,3 billion). After 1990, it became
\nextremely difficult for Indonesia to catch up with China as the
\nfollowing table shows us.<\/p>\n
Though a direct correlation between a corrupt-free nation and
\nthe surge in exports still needs to be scientifically proven,
\nmany development practitioners believe that a corruption-free
\nnation performs better in its export activities.<\/p>\n
One simplified reason is that in the export business, a long
\nchain of business activities are involved. So that the goods may
\nbe competitive on the world market, every link in the chain must
\nbe free of bribery. Only then will Indonesia's exports reach
\nhundreds of billions in US dollars.<\/p>\n
Though China in terms of having a clean government cannot yet
\nbe ranked with the Scandinavian countries or with Singapore, the
\ndetermination to crack down on corruptors has attracted another
\nimportant source of capital, i.e. foreign direct investment
\n(FDI).<\/p>\n
The latest statistics indicate that China and Hong Kong have
\nabsorbed about $150 billion between 1998-2000 (7.6 percent of
\nglobal FDI) as compared to Indonesia, which had negative FDI
\n(minus 0.2%, Asiaweek recently reported). Sadly, $7.7 billion was
\ntaken out of Indonesia during the same period of time.<\/p>\n
China's strategy is in line with the wisdom of Singapore's
\nSenior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who says that \"If you want to
\ngrow ... structure your society and your policies such that
\nyou can make maximum use of international capital\".<\/p>\n
One way to be able to make maximum use of international
\ncapital is for Indonesia to structure its society and policies so
\nas to lead to a corruption-free nation.<\/p>\n
The international fund managers do not expect Indonesia
\nto get a clean government like Singapore in the foreseeable
\nfuture, but they do expect concrete action from the Indonesian
\ngovernment against corruptors in the same way as China is doing
\nnow.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has beautiful policies designed to rid itself of
\ncorruption, but they remain beautiful in encapsulated
\nlegislation. No concrete action has yet been taken against the
\nheads of the corruptors. Should Indonesia follow Zhu Rongji in
\nshooting the \"big fish\"? To date, China is said to have executed
\nseven major corruptors.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia's wayang (shadow puppet) play, some suspected
\ncorruptors are today being investigated, sentenced and even
\nhaving their cases discussed by the Supreme Court, but except for
\none or two cases, there has been no clear evidence yet that the
\ncorruptors are to be punished.<\/p>\n
Perhaps China's method of executing corruptors by shooting
\ngoes against Indonesia's spirit of humanism, and therefore is
\nunlikely to be adopted even by the most hardened Indonesian
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
One alternative would be to confiscate and return ill-gotten
\nwealth to the treasury. Yet before this could take place, solid
\nand corruption-free teamwork between the three most important
\nlaw-enforcement agencies, the police, the prosecutors and the
\njudges must first be established under the Coordinating Minister
\nfor Politics and Security.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, Indonesia's economic recovery will be extremely
\ndifficult, if not impossible. The initial steps, however, must
\nfirst be taken Indonesia itself before any meaningful support
\nfrom Zhu Rongji can be effectively availed off.<\/p>\n
Export value of Indonesian and Chinese goods in billion US$<\/p>\n
(1990, 1995, 2000):
\nIndonesia, 25,5, 45,5, 59,8;
\nChina, 60,9, 135, 240.<\/p>",
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