Persisten corruption and the 'me too' mindset<\/p>\n
Siwage Dharma Negara, Economic Researcher, Indonesian Institute
\nof Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta<\/p>\n
In the March 18 edition of this newspaper, Kornelius Purba
\ndiscussed widespread corruption and joked about the chance of
\nIndonesia getting recognition in the Guinness Book of World
\nRecords, given the complexity of the problems and the weird way
\nin which our legal institutions tackle the issue of corruption.<\/p>\n
What has gone wrong with the attempts to combat corruption?
\nHong Kong-based PERC consultancy has rated Indonesia as the most
\ncorrupt country in Asia.<\/p>\n
The evidence suggests that corruption undermines economic
\ngrowth and development. Corruption leads to misallocation of
\nscarce resources as it causes less effective targeting of social
\nprograms, leads to a lower level of investment, distorts the
\neconomy, lowers income and worsens inequality and poverty.<\/p>\n
Massive corruption causes the poor to receive fewer and poorer
\nsocial services, such as health and education. Indeed,
\nimprovement of the quality and distribution of education and
\nother resources in general are neglected by corrupt officials.<\/p>\n
Corrupt regimes tend to lead to policy bias, by diverting
\nresources from the poor to the rich. A cross-country empirical
\nstudy by the World Bank has indicated that corruption more
\nadversely affects the poor than the rich.<\/p>\n
Poor households must spend more, as a share of their income,
\non bribes, than that of higher income households, for access to
\npublic services. Therefore, widespread corruption has a
\ncorrelation with wider inequality and higher poverty levels.<\/p>\n
As a consequence of longtime bloated and spoiled
\nbureaucracies, all spheres of society are overburdened by red
\ntape and the rent-seeking behavior of corrupt officials. In the
\nabsence of checks and balances on officials' commitment to good
\ngovernance and the rejection of corruption, it is not surprising
\nthat corruption has become a plague on the economy.<\/p>\n
The business sector is often cited as one susceptible target
\nof corrupt officials. A firm engaging in administrative bribery
\ndoes not necessarily benefit from its conduct: Worse still, it is
\nmore likely to harm the business community or society.<\/p>\n
The \"conditional morality\" of our bureaucrats partly explains
\ncorruption here. A bureaucrat may indeed believe in the
\nimmorality of corruption and the harm it can inflict, but that he
\nwould lose out if he did not follow suit.<\/p>\n
In brief, our bureaucrats may think that it would not be in
\ntheir own best interests to control corruption if others did not
\ndo so or if the public's passive acceptance of it persisted. So,
\nthe prospects of pulling the nation out of corruption seem pretty
\ngloomy.<\/p>\n
However, as most individuals do adhere to some basic norms of
\nmorality, there is scope for coordinated action that could lead
\nto greater public control of corruption.<\/p>\n
Although it is not easy to reform the inefficient and corrupt
\nadministrative system, it is not impossible. As corruption is a
\nsymptom of deep and systemic institutional malaise, to combat
\ncorruption we need to tackle all these weaknesses.<\/p>\n
The professionalism of civil servants has been recognized as
\nthe key determinant to combating corruption. Improving civil
\nservants' professionalism cannot be achieved simply by increasing
\ntheir salaries. It has to be combined with, among other things,
\nrecruitment and promotion based on merit and the creation of a
\nprofessionalized civil service based on proper testing of
\nability.<\/p>\n
The overall strategy to combat corruption must consist of an
\nindependent judiciary, the strong rule of law, good institutional
\nand public sector management, protection of political and civil
\nliberties, active participation by civil society, continuous
\nderegulation, and legal, budgetary and financial reforms.<\/p>\n
A more holistic and integrated approach to development that
\nconsiders institutions and the development of human capital is
\nbadly needed. The key is how to speed up regulatory actions in
\ntandem with economic growth and development.<\/p>",
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