Agum pledges to fight corruption

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Communications Agum Gumelar vowed on Friday to fight corruption, collusion and other irregularities in the ministry during his tenure.

"There will be no more favoritism in the awarding of contracts," he said after a ceremony marking the official transfer of the post from his predecessor Giri Suseno.

Agum, the former governor of the National Resilience Institute, said he was aware of dubious practices within the ministry, but he refused to elaborate.

"I will scour all political intrigue from the ministry ... I know who the snipes are here," the active three-star general said.

He said he had been informed about alleged corruption, collusion and cronyism in the ministry, most of which he said occurred in the awarding of contracts.

"I don't know about the details of the cases or the amount of money involved, but we certainly have to fight against KKN," he said. KKN is the acronym for corruption, collusion and cronyism.

Agum said bidding on contracts must be transparent so all bidders had the same chance of winning.

He also called on ministry employees to ignore "recommendation letters" -- letters issued by high-ranking officials endorsing certain people for positions in the ministry or contracts.

Born in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in December 1945, Agum graduated from the National Military Academy in 1968. He was chief of the Army's Special Force from July 1993 to August 1994.

A soccer enthusiast, Agum chairs the Indonesian Soccer Association.

He is married to Linda Tahir, daughter of former telecommunications and tourism minister Achmad Tahir, who, along with former ministers of transportation Azwar Anas and Haryanto Dhanutirto, attended Friday's ceremony.

Agum said he would outline his goals and policies for the ministry after receiving detailed information from the directorate generals of post, telecommunications and air, sea and land transportation.

"The first thing I have to do is check on the preparedness of the air, sea and land transportation sectors in anticipation of an expected increase in passengers during the holiday season and the end of the year," he said.

Agum said the government currently was considering including the Directorate of Radio and Television, which supervises state- run radio RRI and state-run television TVRI, in the Ministry of Communications.

The directorate previously was under the Ministry of Information, which was dissolved.

He said the directorate should be included in the Ministry of Communications because its activities were closely related to telecommunications, a sector managed by his office.

"This is still an idea. The government has yet to decide on it, but we are ready to accommodate employees of RRI and TVRI," Agum said.

Some 5,000 people worked for the Ministry of Information. (cst)