SBY needs to act faster<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), during his visit to
\nBali last month, said that he wanted corruptors to be punished
\nseverely so that state revenue would be higher, which would help
\nalleviate poverty (Republika, Feb. 28).<\/p>\n
Susilo's statement and his other previous statements -- to a
\ncertain extent -- sound like mere rhetoric, as they have not been
\nfollowed up on by his law-enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
Since he announced that Dec. 9 would be the national day for
\ncorruption eradication -- which was followed by Presidential
\nInstruction No. 5\/2004 -- and declared he would personally head
\nthe anticorruption campaign, much to the people's disappointment,
\nnothing has been achieved to this day. Not a single suspect has
\nbeen brought to court so far, aside from the non-active governor
\nof Aceh, whose trial is underway.<\/p>\n
There is actually a good lesson to be learned from South
\nKorea, whose president also leads the campaign against
\ncorruption. In this case, he chairs a presidential commission to
\nfight corruption and, in doing this job, he is helped by a police
\ndetachment to conduct investigations.<\/p>\n
He presides over a monthly law-enforcement agencies meeting to
\nevaluate the commission's performance (The Jakarta Post, May 28,
\n2004). The results have been impressive in that the country's
\nformer president was brought to court and forced to return the
\nmoney he allegedly embezzled. Later, he went into self-imposed
\nexile in the mountains.<\/p>\n
Now, as far as Indonesia is concerned, there is no such
\npresidential commission to fight corruption other than the above
\ninstruction to his aides, e.g. eight ministers up to all
\ngovernors, regents and mayors including the law-enforcement
\nagencies to act together with the existing Corruption Eradication
\nCommission (KPK). This system seems to be too bureaucratic and
\ntakes a long time to produce results, given the many institutions
\nthat are supposedly responsible for eradicating corrupt
\npractices.<\/p>\n
Therefore, there is a need for Susilo to simplify the movement
\nand he himself should preside over a routine meeting of
\nlaw-enforcement agencies -- bi-monthly or monthly and ask the
\npolice to investigate the alleged embezzlers, and punish them
\nseverely if they are proven guilty. In this way, people would see
\nsignificant results in the fight against corruption, and his
\npopularity would rise even further.<\/p>\n
M. RUSDI, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sby-needs-to-act-faster-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }