Indonesia world's no. 5 most corrupt nation: TI<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia remains one of the world's most corrupt nations,
\ndespite the current reform era that began after the 1998 fall of
\npresident Soeharto, indicates a report from the Berlin-based
\nTransparency International (TI) Indonesia.<\/p>\n
TI announced on Wednesday that Indonesia was ranked the fifth
\nmost corrupt nation along with Angola, the Democratic Republic of
\nCongo, Ivory Coast, Georgia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, who
\nreceived the same score as Indonesia among 146 countries
\nsurveyed.<\/p>\n
Among the ASEAN-member countries, Indonesia is ranked above
\nMyanmar based on TI's global corruption index. Last year, the
\ninternational graft watchdog put Indonesia No. 6 in its index.<\/p>\n
In a press release, TI said that based on the index of 146
\ncountries perceived by business leaders, academics, antigraft
\nactivists and risk analysts across Indonesia, the country's score
\nwas only 2.0, an increase from 1.9 last year.<\/p>\n
Although Indonesia's index increased or rather improved by
\n0.1, Its ranking dropped because other countries managed to
\nimprove their performance, it added.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's index has moved between 1.7 and 2.0 since 1999,
\nindicating that the current reform movement had failed to
\nsignificantly reduce the public perception of corruption in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The watchdog said systemic corruption was the biggest
\nchallenge for the government of President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono, who was sworn in on Wednesday, to tackle, as he was
\ndirectly elected by the people for his pledge to fight graft.<\/p>\n
Many have said his predecessor, Megawati Soekarnoputri, failed
\nto be reelected in the Sept. 20 election for being not serious in
\neradicating corruption.<\/p>\n
In his inaugural speech hours after taking his oath of office,
\nSusilo renewed his pledge that he would lead the antigraft drive
\nby his government to show his commitment to eradicate corruption.<\/p>\n
TI said factors contributing to the index included a report
\nfrom the State Audit Agency (BPK) which revealed Rp 166.5
\ntrillion in extensive irregularities in the use of state funds
\nfrom 1999 to 2004.<\/p>\n
Quoting the BPK report, the graft watchdog said losses through
\ncorruption amounted to some Rp 37.39 trillion in the first
\nsemester of 2004 alone.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the Attorney General's Office, which is mandated
\nto prosecute corrupters, failed to boost its performance, while
\nthe BPK report showed the office as having the largest amount in
\nfund irregularities.<\/p>\n
TI said the BPK report only reflected the suspected
\nembezzlement of funds from state budgets and excluded other graft
\ncases, such as project markups and bribery among government
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
Based on its interviews with businesspeople in 15 cities
\nacross Indonesia, the watchdog concluded that bribery and other
\nunauthorized fees were widespread between businesspeople and
\nstate officials in order to obtain business permits and during
\ncourt trials.<\/p>\n
TI urged President Susilo to fulfill his promises by pursuing
\nhis antigraft programs consistently, as the nation has already
\npinned high hopes on him to eradicate corruption.<\/p>\n
The organization said Susilo should adopt anticorruption
\nprograms submitted to him by various non-governmental
\norganizations, including the Indonesian Corruption Watch.<\/p>",
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