Eradication of corruption requires clean legal system<\/p>\n
Frans H. Winarta, Member, National Law Commission (KHN),
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
There has already been much said about corruption and how to
\novercome it by various observers, law enforcers, NGO leaders,
\ngovernment officials, educators and religious leaders of
\ndifferent faiths. The cry of reformasi reverberated in 1998 with
\nthe fall of the New Order regime, but since that time there are
\nstill no signs that the incidence of corrupt practices is
\ndiminishing -- let alone that it can be eradicated.<\/p>\n
As illustrated by a recent publication of Yayasan Aksara in
\ncollaboration with the Partnership for Governance Reform, this
\ncountry has long been plagued by severe corruption that has
\ntouched almost all aspects of national life. No less than 16
\nstudies on corruption in Indonesia were written by writers from a
\nvariety of disciplines in respect of graft in the bureaucracy,
\nthe courts, the banking sector, state-owned enterprises, foreign
\naid, the private sector and financial institutions.<\/p>\n
Corruption appears to have continued in more sophisticated
\nforms and become even more widespread. It is often conducted even
\nmore openly with no sense of shame as if all the writings, all
\nthe protests and demonstrations of the reform era have come to
\nnothing and the voice of the people has been ignored. The roots
\nof corruption seem to have dug so deep, become so entrenched and
\nso widespread as to make inroads nearly impossible. Yet, despite
\nthis, there are countries that have managed to reduce corruption
\nto minimal levels.<\/p>\n
The World Economic Form (WEF) reports that Indonesia is ranked
\n60 out of 120 countries in terms of competitiveness. This lack of
\ncompetitiveness is influenced by corruption, inefficiencies in
\nthe bureaucracy and political instability. Malaysia is ranked
\n26th, Singapore 8th, Thailand 32nd and Vietnam 50th. Finland and
\nthe United States were found to be the most competitive countries
\naccording to the survey. Taiwan and Singapore were listed as the
\nfifth and sixth most prosperous countries respectively in Asia.<\/p>\n
Of course, Indonesia is not the only country to suffer from
\nendemic corruption. The problem is of such worldwide significance
\nthat the United Nations on October 30, 2003 accepted the Anti-
\nCorruption Agreement -- the first of its kind in the world -- to
\nbe signed in Merdia, Mexico on Dec. 9-11, 2003. The draft
\nagreement has been two years in the making and will come into
\neffect within 90 days after being ratified by 30 countries.<\/p>\n
In introducing UN acceptance of the agreement, Secretary-
\nGeneral Kofi Annan declared in front of 191 member states of the
\nGeneral Assembly: \"The practice of corruption inflicts great pain
\non the poor. Corruption may become the main cause of the
\nworsening of a country's economy and is a hindrance to
\ndevelopment and poverty reduction\".<\/p>\n
As part of a corruption eradication campaign, we need
\nprosecutors who are specially trained to deal with such crimes,
\nincluding money laundering, bank fraud, mark-ups, bribery,
\nextortion, conflict of interest, tampering with evidence,
\nfalsification of signatures etc. Special expertise is needed to
\ndeal with white collar crime. These kinds of investigations are
\ncomplex and require handling by a new breed of prosecutors who
\nare highly trained, honest, professional and capable of
\nmaintaining their integrity. As the cutting edge of the anti-
\ncorruption campaign, the prosecution of corruptors by special
\nprosecutors will give much-needed hope to the reform agenda.<\/p>\n
The same is true of judges who will need special training to
\ndeal with these kinds of cases. In fact, it would be better to
\nform a special court consisting of ad hoc judges to try
\ncorruption matters. If big time corruptors can be convicted by
\nspecially trained judges, this could have a snowball effect that
\nwill win the support of the community that has long been hoping
\nfor serious action against corruptors.<\/p>\n
In order to respond to increasingly sophisticated crimes of
\ncorruption and banking and finance violations, the Public
\nProsecutor's office has to reform itself from the inside. The
\nAttorney-General's Office is currently preparing a reform program
\nin cooperation with the National Law Commission backed up by the
\nPartnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor's office needs to strengthen itself with a
\nprofessional audit team. In order to increase its professionalism
\nin tackling corruption-related crimes, special training is needed
\nin finance, banking, computers and money laundering. All this
\nwill require considerable public expenditure. The appointment of
\nprosecutors specially trained to handle corruption is a good
\nstart. The recent case of fraud at BNI, for instance, would
\nrequire a special team of prosecutors skilled in handling such
\ncases. The BNI case could actually be a landmark in the national
\nanti-corruption campaign if the prosecution is well handled and a
\nheavy sentence handed down.<\/p>\n
One important issue is how to ensure that this institution at
\nthe forefront of law enforcement is free from political
\ninterference. The politicizing of the law has been going on for
\ntoo long. As part of the reform agenda, the institution of public
\nprosecutor must be made sterile from political influence and
\ninterest. The community does not want to see the prosecutor or
\nthe Attorney-General chasing various corruption suspects from
\ntime to time based solely on who is in power at the time. There
\nwere different corruption suspects in Habibie's time. They
\nchanged under Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency and have changed
\nagain now under Megawati.<\/p>\n
One idea has been to place the Office of Public Prosecution
\nunder the Supreme Court. Actually, this is not appropriate
\nbecause the institution needs to be in tune with the government's
\nanti-corruption drive. Placing the Prosecution under the auspices
\nof the Supreme Court would mean that the office may not properly
\nact in accordance with policies on fighting crime.<\/p>\n
Heavy sentencing for the big fish by corruption courts would
\ngive inspiration to other law enforcement bodies and to the
\ncommunity at large who, in turn, will become more courageous in
\nreporting corruption cases. Just by handing down a few heavy
\nsentences to big-time corruptors, the courts will quickly send a
\nsignal to the community that the government and the judicial
\nauthorities are prepared to at last get tough on corruption.<\/p>\n
Only in this way will there be hope in the struggle against
\ncorruption that has for so long held a grip on this country.
\nEach breakthrough will lead the way toward a new culture that is
\nless tolerant of corruption. As early as possible at primary
\nschools, children should be taught about the principles of
\nhonesty and the need to combat corruption.<\/p>",
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