Broken promise

This is another follow-up to earlier letters about immigration corruption in Medan. In letters published on June 3, June 6 and June 27, Director General of Immigration Mr. Pranowo and Mr. Pranowo's head of public relations Mr. Ghani asked me to provide evidence to back up allegations of corruption I had made about one of the immigration officials in Medan. In his June 3 letter Mr. Ghani promised, "After receiving the above data, the Directorate General of Immigration will investigate immediately the matters, the results of which will be given to Ms. Woodward in about three weeks. And those who are proven guilty will be punished properly according to the existing rules and regulations." Mr. Pranowo suggested that if proof could not be provided, I would be considered to have committed defamation. It is now November, and despite my letters to Mr. Pranowo and Minister of Justice Muladi, despite requests made through an article in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 19 and a letter on Oct. 23, those of us who are waiting to hear the outcome have still not had any reply. What we do know is that the object of our complaints was made head of the immigration section of the Indonesian Consulate General in Los Angeles. Why was Mr. X moved out of the country so quickly?

Why have Indonesian officials been silent about this matter since July 1998? Is there some embarrassment on their part about the corruption they found? Are they trying to conceal something? Is there collusion at some level? Where is Mr. Ghani's credibility if he does not keep his public promise to provide the results of the investigation? Where is transparency? This refusal to reply is insulting to those of us who dealt with the immigration official in good faith. Do the immigration officials really think that we should accept their contemptuous silence as adequate closure of this matter? In their letters Mr. Ghani and Mr. Pranowo called my credibility into question, and they owe, I think, an apology, or at least a reply to our complaint.

Pressing a corruption complaint may seem to be the wrong priority in the wake of the recent killings in Jakarta. On the other hand, the whole reform movement is about trying to make this government more responsive and more honest. Why isn't Mr. Pranowo doing his small part for reform?

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra