Alliance against corruption
The remarkable success of the FPSB, a forum of civil society organizations (CSOs) in West Sumatra, last month, to bring 43 corrupt members of the West Sumatra provincial legislative council to justice has created several markedly positive developments in the fight against corruption.
First, the rulings by the district court in Padang have raised the momentum for developing more strategic alliances between CSOs and state institutions for combating corruption (see another article also on this page).
The Ministry of Forestry signed last week a three-year cooperation agreement with Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and Greenomis Indonesia to fight corruption within the management of forest resources.
Under this program, the two CSOs have free access to data and information on the ministry's areas of activities that are highly vulnerable to corruption, such as the awarding of forest concessions, logging operations, dealing with illegal loggers and the auction of illegal timber by the ministry.
Several other corruption watchdogs, including Transparency International Indonesia and the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, are also helping several regency administrations to establish islands of integrity within an ocean of corruption.
Even though they remain free pending their appeals, the Padang district court verdicts of 24 months to 27 months in prison and fines of US$10,000 to $21,000 on the provincial legislators serve as a strong warning that the penalties for corruptors have now become much higher, as the chances of being caught and being brought to justice have increased.
The FPSB achievement, which capped more than a year of tireless efforts, has also sparked a high sense of optimism in a public that has become desperate about the drive against corruption, such that whenever there is the will on the part of officials and active oversight by the public through CSOs, corruptors can no longer be regarded as untouchable.
Just witness how dozens of other legislators in more than 10 provinces and regencies are now either under prosecution or investigation by the police and district attorneys on charges of corruption. This wave of developments is greatly comforting amid public apprehension that local autonomy, launched in 2001, would merely redistribute corruption from Jakarta to the provinces and regencies.
Yet more important is that the combating of corruption within legislative councils is quite a strategic move to develop good governance because one of the primary functions of legislators is to control and hold administrations to account under effective checks and balances.
Moreover, it is also greatly comforting to note that alliances between CSOs and state institutions, besides being effective in handling corruption, cost the government nothing. Such joint undertakings require only a willingness on the part of the state institutions to put themselves under full scrutiny by CSOs, as in the case of cooperation between the Ministry of Forestry and the two CSOs.
This cooperation is quite important, especially in the absence of legislation on free access to information within areas of public interest, which the public in Thailand has enjoyed under the Freedom of Information Act since 1997.
The Center for Legal Research of the University of Andalas -- a CSO member of the FPSB -- provided the Provincial Prosecutor's Office in Padang with legal assistance in building solid corruption cases against the 43 legislators.
The experience of other countries that have had remarkable success in fighting corruption demonstrates how CSOs, the media, legislators, the judiciary and the private sector should be involved with full voice and empowerment to make the drive against corruption more effective.
The alleged smuggling of more than 56,000 etric tons of sugar through the Jakarta seaport of Tanjung Priok would not have been investigated so intensively had not the Association of Sugarcane Farmers aggressively campaigned, in cooperation with the media, to keep the case firmly in the spotlight.
A recent visit by a delegation from the House of Representatives Energy and Mining Commission to Hong Kong and South Korea two weeks ago would not have become a national issue had not the trade union at Pertamina and several CSOs, including the Professional Civil Society (MPM),campaigned aggressively to link that overseas visit to the controversial sale of two Very Large Crude Carriers by the state oil and gas company.
So effective have been public opinion pressures arising from the campaign that Pertamina provided last week comprehensive information on the tanker sales.
Nonetheless, there is still a need for more strategic alliances between CSOs and state institutions, especially those highly vulnerable to corruption such as tax and customs offices, the state police and the judiciary.