Eradicating of corruption is 'impossible'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Eradication of corruption is impossible, State
\nMinister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi said yesterday.<\/p>\n
He told a discussion on future leaders that corruption was
\nimpossible to eradicate because it was common throughout the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
\"We can only minimize corruption,\" he said in the discussion
\nheld by the Moslem Students Association.<\/p>\n
He conceded that his office had had problems determining the
\ncause of corruption despite the existence of complete laws and
\nregulations which could jail corrupt people. He said there were
\nalso mechanisms to prevent corruption.<\/p>\n
He said the campaign against corruption was such an uphill
\nbattle that it should be initiated by \"clean and authorized
\ngovernment officials\".<\/p>\n
\"The anticorruption drive should be a top-down policy,\" he
\nsaid. \"You only need to dismiss a corrupt person from his office.
\nThat's all.\"<\/p>\n
But he acknowledged that dismissing corrupt officials might be
\neasier said than done. \"Indonesians are well-known for their
\nkindness. They don't usually have the heart to press for heavy
\nsanctions against corrupt people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The minister said it was wrong to say that corruption was
\nmonopolized by government officials.<\/p>\n
\"The amount of corruption in the private sector is more
\nhorrifying than in government offices,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Silalahi, also president commissioner of the Army-owned Bank
\nArtha Graha, cited several cases of bad debts at state and
\nprivate banks as a symptom of corruption.<\/p>\n
He said that many people had used low wages as an excuse to be
\ncorrupt.<\/p>\n
\"The government, in this case, has always made an effort to
\nimprove its employees' welfare,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The problem was that improving welfare did not always mean
\nbetter productivity, he said.<\/p>\n
\"In Jakarta, staff with higher salaries are absent from
\noffices more frequently than those on lower salaries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"You cannot guarantee that they will not be corrupt, either,\"
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
Silalahi said Indonesians need not be depressed about the
\ncountry's record of corruption.<\/p>\n
\"I am optimistic that we can minimize corruption some day in
\nthe future,\" he said, adding that Indonesia had achieved high
\neconomic growth in recent years.<\/p>\n
The 1996 survey of the Hong Kong-based Politics and Economy
\nRisk Consultancy (PERC) disclosed that Indonesia ranked third of
\nthe overall 12 most corrupt Asian countries. China came first,
\nfollowed by Vietnam. (imn)<\/p>",
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