Audit agency needs more integrity: Candidates
Audit agency needs more integrity: Candidates
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta
As the selection process for new leaders of the Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) nears completion, candidates say the agency needs a
clearer and broader authority to more effectively combat state
fund abuses.
"BPK, as a state audit agency, is supposed to be on the front
line in making sure that state funds are properly spent. However,
the agency has not yet been able to function in an effective
manner," Baihaki Hakim said.
Baihaki, the former president of state oil and gas company
Pertamina, was among the six candidates invited by the House of
Representatives' Commission IX on financial affairs on Monday for
an interview.
There are a total of 39 candidates proposed by the factions in
the House to fill the seven positions on BPK's board. During the
current round of screening, which will last through Wednesday,
the Commission will select 21 of the 39 -- three candidates for
each position -- to be proposed to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
The law empowers the president to choose the final seven of
the 21 proposed by the House to become the BPK board members.
Those seven will choose among them a chairman and a deputy
chairman.
The audit agency is tasked with examining the implementation
of the state budget and the financial reports of state
institutions. Given the crucial role played by the agency in
combating corruption, expectations are high for the House and the
government to select people with integrity.
Baihaki, who is considered by many a "clean" candidate,
pointed out during the interview how, currently, the agency could
not do much in curbing irregularities in the spending of budgets
by the regional governments.
"Since the implementation of regional autonomy, for instance,
we have heard so many times about local government officials
becoming 'little kings'. Yet, BPK has no authority nor staff
members in the provinces with adequate skills to investigate
those cases," he added.
He thus urged the legislators to quickly endorse the draft law
on BPK, which is now being deliberated by the government and the
House. He said it would enable the agency to fight corruption.
Separately, another candidate Hasan Bisri, a member of the
current BPK board, stressed the need to maintain and improve the
agency's integrity by compensating them adequately.
The new BPK board should put a high priority on measures to
improve the working standards of its agency's employees, he said.
"There has to be a reward-and-punishment system, which
provides rewards for good auditors and punitive measures against
auditors who misuse their power," he added.
The other four candidates taking part in the screening process
were Mukrom As'ad (current BPK board member), Mustofadijaja
(current BPK member), Abdullah Zaini (chairman of the House's
Budget Commission) and Sulistiadi (a lawmaker from Commission
IX).