A way out of the vicious circle?

A way out of the vicious circle?

A rating of 1.9 out of 10 to mark Indonesia's place regarding
corruption leaves one speechless. The Corruption Perception Index
recently issued by the Berlin-based Transparency International,
only served to confirm the sense of helplessness against this
pervasive practice. A grade of 1.9 can only mean that we are
beyond salvation. The grade was the average figure of grades 0.7 to 2.9
compiled from 13 surveys, conducted from June 2002 through June
2003. We must be stuck in this swamp of bribes, extortion, "money
politics", embezzlement of state funds, kickbacks ...

So why the optimistic-looking picture in this paper last week
of the broadly smiling leaders of the largest Muslim
organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)? Were A.
Syafii Maarif and Hasyim Muzadi entirely oblivious of their
"mission impossible," which, as they stated, was to end
corruption?

It was reported that their joint effort, marked in a
Memorandum of Understanding signed Wednesday, was a "cultural
movement" and it is this potential that apparently led to the
support of the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, a
non-governmental organization working with donor agencies.

With their latest combined membership figures of 70 million in
rural and urban areas across the country, the success of such a
movement would at least mean that each member could be made aware
that corruption is not a tolerable act. If those 70 million each
had at least one relative or dependent to whom that realization
could spread, the total of people affected would be no mean
figure out of our 220-million strong population.

This could further lead to, among other things, a new
understanding that having a position or a job does not equate to
a golden opportunity to "help" one's friends or relatives through
the use of all the resources within one's reach. The noble task
of aiding relatives and friends in need is among the culturally
influenced values that justifies corruption, a NU executive said
following the signing of the agreement.

The beginning of the NU-Muhammadiyah joint effort is thus one
step out of the jungle that deserves our strong support, as the
Islamic organizations have very importantly, through their
gesture, expressed their acknowledgement of what is surely the
greatest enemy to our society -- and that they are willing to
try, with their millions of followers, to fight it.

In this bleak scene of ours there have actually been a couple
of milestones to support the anticorruption drive. We now have
the Anticorruption Law passed last year. The new Anticorruption
Commission is starting the process of selecting candidates, and
those involved must work hard to prove the skeptics wrong. It is
hoped to be a breakthrough if it is really empowered to take over
the responsibility of the police and the Attorney General's
Office in handling big corruption cases.

People cannot be blamed for the apathy and skepticism greeting
every anticorruption effort, given the obvious incapacity of the
very institutions in charge of enforcing the law -- the police
and the courts, along with government bodies such as the Cabinet
and the legislature, as reflected in various cases and surveys.

In such a whirling vicious circle it is indeed left to the
people to take the lead. Earlier there was the Bung Hatta Anti
Corruption Award, which has began the task of finding a few
needles in the haystack, to recognize the rare individuals
fighting corruption in corrupt environments. There was also the
rise of the business community's fight against bribes, which was
launched by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry or
Kadin Indonesia, as the businesses are among those directly
affected by corruption.

Yet in the face of these initiatives and milestones looms the
display of a lack of political will. In a recent remark President
Megawati Soekarnoputri dismissed suggestions that the government
take note of China's actions towards convicted corruptors. If I
shoot them, she scoffed, the press would rush to write that the
President is violating human rights. Her words seemed to reflect
exasperation, while people have yet to see significant efforts on
the part of her government in fighting corruption.

The partnership of the country's largest Muslim organizations
may indeed be our last hope. Who else could enable 70 million
people to differentiate which of all the goodies passing their
way or in their reach is rightly theirs and is thus halal, or
permissible.

That NU and Muhammadiyah maybe our last resort is precisely
why we ask that they be consistent. If their highly respected
teachers and leaders at various levels continue to welcome any
contribution from any "Servant of God" (Hamba Allah) without
question whatsoever, as many institutions depending on charity
are prone to do, then there is little chance that their millions
of followers will grasp even the faintest intention of this
"cultural" fight against corruption.