War on corruption doubted<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank and International Monetary Fund's
\n(IMF) anticorruption pledge received a cool response from
\nobservers here over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Well-known economist Kwik Kian Gie said in Indonesia's case
\nthe declaration was lip service rather than a concerted effort to
\nput pressure on the government to eradicate corruption.<\/p>\n
"It (the declaration) will become a laughing stock among elite
\npolitical and business groups here," Kwik said. "They know the
\nWorld Bank can do nothing because it has too many interests at
\nstake in the country."<\/p>\n
He said the campaign would have little impact because it
\nfailed to specify the targeted countries.<\/p>\n
Both the IMF and World Bank announced, during a meeting in
\nHong Kong on Friday, they were escalating the worldwide war on
\ncorruption.<\/p>\n
World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn warned that
\ncorruption would be directly taken into account in lending
\ndecisions.<\/p>\n
The two multilateral fund lending groups hold more than US$300
\nbillion in lending assets.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is one of the World Bank's largest borrowers and the
\nbank is the nation's second largest donor after Japan. The World
\nBank committed itself to giving $1.5 billion to the Consultative
\nGroup on Indonesia (CGI) during its annual meeting in Tokyo last
\nJuly.<\/p>\n
Kwik said the World Bank would not apply tough measures to
\nIndonesia because it risked losing its lending assets.<\/p>\n
"What can they (IMF and the World Bank) do with Indonesia,
\nwhich is called one of the world's most corrupt countries?"<\/p>\n
In April, a Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk
\nConsultancy (PERC) survey placed Indonesia on the top of a list
\nof Asia's most corrupt countries.<\/p>\n
An American professor of political economy, Jeffrey A.
\nWinters, said in July that about one third of the World Bank's
\nloans to Indonesia since 1965 had been leaked and were
\n"unaccounted for".<\/p>\n
But the World Bank's Vice President for East Asia and the
\nPacific, Jean-Michel Severino, said Winters' accusations were
\n"demonstrably untrue". Minister of National Development Planning
\nGinandjar Kartasasmita dismissed the allegations as "groundless".<\/p>\n
Separately, Faisal Basri from the University of Indonesia said
\nthe anticorruption declaration may have been triggered by a
\ncollective awareness.<\/p>\n
He said the campaign could be accelerated by urges from
\nAmerican businessmen who feel that corruption hinders fair
\ncompetition in business.<\/p>\n
"Corruption has become a global phenomenon and an
\ninternational code of conduct to cope with it is needed."<\/p>\n
Yesterday, House of Representatives legislator Theo Sambuaga
\njoined the debate, asking both the IMF and World Bank not to
\napply their own standards on corruption or dictate anticorruption
\nmeasures to a country.<\/p>\n
"Indonesia has long enacted and implemented strict
\nanticorruption measures. So the IMF and the World Bank's
\ndeclaration is not relevant here," Theo, from Commission I for
\npolitical and foreign affairs, said.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government would consistently allow no room for
\ngraft, without having to wait for an outsider's demand or
\npressure, he said.<\/p>\n
Rather than launching a late anticorruption campaign, the two
\ninternational organizations should set up mechanisms to prevent
\ncurrency crisis in the future, he said. (10\/amd)<\/p>",
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