Fighting the corruption scourge<\/p>\n
Corruption cases are apparently still abundant. The Minister
\nfor State Administrative Reform, T.B. Silalahi, told the House of
\nRepresentative's Commission II on Wednesday that 61 percent of
\ncomplaints received from the public through P.O. Box 5000
\nconcerns cases of corruption.<\/p>\n
Not so long ago the Head of the Government Audit Board,
\nSoedarjono, told the House's Budgetary Commission that during
\nPelita V (the Fifth Development Period) his office uncovered 233
\ncases of corruption, causing a loss of Rp 237.9 billion to the
\nstate.<\/p>\n
The Board's findings, the confidential complaints addressed to
\nP.O. Box 5000 and any other indications of corruption deserve to
\nbe followed up through legal means. This needs emphasizing
\nbecause both in practice and in discussions among experts,
\ndifferent views are often offered regarding the handling of these
\ncases.<\/p>\n
There are those who are of the opinion that as long as the
\nmoney is returned in time and before the case is submitted to the
\ncourt, no action has to be taken. Others on the other hand
\nbelieve that action must be taken, even when the money is
\nreturned, because at least an attempt at embezzlement was made.<\/p>\n
If we expect to repress corruption and at the same discipline
\nofficials, we think attempts at corruption should be made subject
\nto punishment -- in whatever form. In this way officials would be
\ndeterred at an early moment from \"playing with fire\" by using
\npublic money. Besides, the effect of punishment could be expected
\nto reverberate more widely among officials, which would prompt
\nthem into behaving more carefully with regard to money.<\/p>\n
-- Suara Karya, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fighting-the-corruption-scourge-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }