Bill on clean governance lacks teeth: ICW chairman

Bill on clean governance lacks teeth: ICW chairman

JAKARTA (JP): To pass the clean governance bill without giving
substantial authority to an independent body to implement the
power controls would be a pointless and abortive attempt to
uproot corruption, according to the Indonesian Corruption Watch
(ICW).

The chairman of ICW, Teten Masduki, said on Friday the bill
should provide for the establishment of a permanent independent
commission with the authority to investigate and prosecute public
authorities though to be abusing their power.

He suggested that members of such a commission be appointed by
and be responsible to the House of Representatives, not the
president, to ensure their independence.

"If the members of the commission are appointed by the
president, the commission will not be independent," he told
reporters on the sidelines of a special hearing on the bill with
the House's United Development Party faction.

He said the current bill, which is still being debated by the
House and is expected to be approved before the June 7 general
election, stipulates that the commission must report to the
president and its authority is limited to making recommendations.

"There are concerns among government officials that if the
commission is given greater authority, it will interfere in the
power of the government," Teten said.

He said that giving complete authority to the commission was
necessary, as, he explained, rampant corruption during the reign
of former president Soeharto was facilitated with presidential
decrees and government regulations, making such actions difficult
to pin down as illegal.

Soeharto's family and associates are widely thought to have
amassed their enormous fortunes through corruption, collusion and
nepotism permitted during Soeharto's 32 years in power.

The public has demanded that Soeharto and his allies be
brought to trial for crimes of corruption.

Presidential hopeful Amien Rais, head of the popular National
Mandate Party (PAN), criticized President B.J. Habibie on
Thursday for being too slow in dealing with the alleged
corruption of his mentor and former leader.

He demanded that Soeharto be immediately brought to court for
trial.

Teten said Habibie would not dare to bring the corrupt
officials of the Soeharto regime to trial, despite his widely
trumpeted anticorruption campaigns.

"His intention by proposing and amending various laws is just
to prevent corruption in the future," he said. "He is applying
two-faced politics."

Teten said the new bill on clean governance would be effective
in fighting corruption if it required government officials to
provide proof that their wealth was acquired lawfully.

"This principle of reverse authentication is very important
because the Attorney General's Office has so far claimed it has
no evidence to support the corruption charges against officials,"
he said.

However, Teten explained that officials could always hide away
their ill-gotten wealth with sophisticated money laundering
techniques, thus avoiding the necessity of proving the origin of
their fortunes.

He said one way to prevent this was to require all financial
institutions to report transactions above a certain amount.

The government is now drafting the financial transaction
report bill to thwart money laundering, tax evasion and other
financial crimes. (rei)