Antigraft fight must begin with Cabinet: Activists
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Activist have welcomed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge to personally lead the country's fight against corruption, but suggested that he start with his own Cabinet members and the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) cases.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII)'s secretary-general Emmy Hafild said Susilo would first have to purge his own inner circle and the Cabinet if he wanted his anticorruption campaign to be credible.
"I really respect Susilo because he has been elected directly by the people. Therefore, Susilo must be brave enough to act resolutely against any of his ministers," Emmy told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Susilo, the country's first directly elected president, vowed in his inauguration speech last Wednesday to lead the anticorruption campaign himself, and told his ministers to shun corruption or face dismissal and prosecution.
But according to Emmy, at least four of Susilo's Cabinet members have dubious track records.
She declined to name the ministers, but said that one of them was linked to the BLBI scandal, two were implicated in bribery and another one's wealth had grown inordinately in a very short period.
"So rich is this minister that his son drives a Jaguar sedan to his school," said Emmy, referring to the minister whose prospects had apparently blossomed overnight.
Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) issued its latest corruption perception index last Wednesday, listing Indonesia as the world's fifth most corrupt country.
Corruption has also been blamed for the prolonged economic crisis, which at one stage had pushed the country to the brink of bankruptcy.
In the first Cabinet meeting on Friday, Susilo told his ministers to use shock therapy to deal with the problems currently confronting the country, particularly corruption.
Emmy said President Susilo must reassure the public that his Cabinet members are clean if he wanted to keep the people's trust.
Taking one example, she said that Jakarta residents had massively supported former president Megawati Soekarnoputri in the 1999 elections but abandoned her in the 2004 elections because she failed to live up to voter expectations.
Megawati, with her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), won the 1999 elections, the first since the fall of former authoritarian leader Soeharto, but lost the 2004 election.
Susilo must take action against ministers shown to have been involved in corruption, she said.
Separately, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) deputy coordinator Luky Djani said high profile cases such as the BLBI scandals should be prioritized to boost Susilo's image as an anticorruption crusader.
Luky stressed that the new administration would have to show its commitment to fighting corruption or otherwise the public would not trust the statements made by state officials.
"I think Susilo must revoke Presidential Decree No.8/2002, which allowed state prosecutors to halt some of the BLBI investigations," Luky said here on Saturday.
At the height of economic crisis from 1997 to 1999, Bank Indonesia, the central bank, pumped hundreds of trillions of rupiah into the country's ailing banks as part of an effort to overcome the financial crisis.
However, some banks misused the funds and thus were unable to repay the money, causing the state to lose around Rp 144 trillion.
According to Lucky, the country's rampant and systemic corruption could be eradicated in two ways -- enforcing the law to the fullest possible extent and revamping the structure of the bureaucracy in order to reduce irregularities in government procurement projects.
"Reforming the bureaucracy is a must, otherwise Susilo's corruption eradication strategy will be doomed to failure," Luky said.