Can corruption be wiped out here?

By Donna K. Woodward

JAKARTA (JP): More and more Indonesians are speaking out against the corruption -- payoffs, bribery, kickbacks, collusion -- that is strangling this economy. And yet the payoffs and kickbacks continue. Why does corruption continue?

On April 30, Rob Goodfellow wrote about the danger of stereotyping (by Westerners) Indonesian business practices as corrupt. The very next day, though, Indonesia's Center for the Study of Development and Democracy released the result of its survey indicating that "a majority of Indonesians living in big cities think that corruption is getting worse".

Many expatriates and Indonesians who willingly pay illegal fees to government officials explain this in terms of the low salaries of Indonesia's civil servants and police. In fact, some of those demanding payoffs are often receiving huge amounts, not to sustain basic needs, but to support a lavish lifestyle that many of other people would envy.

But those who offer this rationale for their collusion in corruption have a valid point -- corruption will not be controlled until the government finds a way to do something about the salaries of its civil servants.

A police officer who must borrow millions of rupiah to "buy" a job which has an official salary of Rp 250,000 (US$31) per month, or a civil servant who is trying to support a family on an official salary of Rp 400,000 per month, both must find extracurricular sources of income.

Institutionalized corruption may have this positive effect, in that wealth is redistributed from those who have more to those who have less. But is corruption an acceptable alternative to the country's inadequate wage system? People tolerate corruption, thinking that it is only about periodic payoffs made to those whose salaries need augmenting by those who can afford to pay.

But corruption is about more than dirty money. Corruption, secondarily about greed, is primarily about abuse of official power (as those who were polled in the survey recognized).

Tolerance of the system wherein a citizen cannot obtain a passport or a driver's license without paying illegal fees exacted by those in power eventually leads to tolerance of more sophisticated, then more chilling, abuses of power. Though not on a par with physical torture, abuse of authority is a seamless cloth -- whether to use a position to extort a little money today, or to detain someone improperly tomorrow, or to use excessive force against a criminal suspect the following day. Corruption is, at its roots, about abuse of power.

Corruption is a social disease of the spirit. It takes away the self-respect and dignity of those who wait like beggars for a payment. It breeds resentment in those who look for payoffs, toward those (generally expatriates and Chinese) who have the money to pay. It generates contempt in those who pay toward those soliciting payments (usually indigenous government officials), who seem to have little remaining initiative to get ahead legitimately.

It thus exacerbates inter-ethnic conflicts. It undermines confidence in the legal system and in the government. Corruption makes the nation of Indonesia look to all the world, from Singapore to New York, like a large bazaar where every official transaction can be bargained, where every hand is out for a payoff.

What makes corruption especially odious is not so much the money involved (though the amounts demanded can be considerable). It is, in the final instance, that corruption erodes the self- respect of Indonesia's honest citizens and civil servants.

Can Indonesia really afford to tolerate corruption as an alternative wealth-redistribution system when the side effects are so devastating to its ethnic harmony and national morale? Does anyone dare say "Yes"?

Indonesia's leaders themselves say "No". There is hardly a day that another high-level government leader does not proclaim that there must be greater transparency and honesty in Indonesia's bureaucracy, that illegal fees must be eliminated, that the government must be clean.

But is this rhetoric or resolve? Does the government really intend to eliminate corruption? Or is there a fear at the higher levels of government that to take serious steps against offending officials could lead to loss of support from officials who benefit from illegal fees; to mutiny in the military; and to civil unrest among the lower ranks of civil servants and police? What would happen if the official who earns only a few hundred thousand rupiah per month in official wages could not supplement this by seeking biaya administrasi ("administration cost") or grease money?

What would happen if those, who over the years had made contributions (directly or indirectly) to their superiors as a means of securing promotions, suddenly could not use the position they have reached to benefit themselves and their families as expected?

What would happen if even a single minister or one governor got serious about ending corruption in his or her jurisdiction? Would the official who seriously undertook effective measures to stop corruption soon be sabotaged by subordinates or divested of authority by superiors or worse? How can any official survive, who interferes with people's opportunities for supplementing their incomes?

Many government officials may want to end corruption but do not know how or where to start. Perhaps there is some guilt they themselves benefited from the system of patronage on their way up the career ladder and now they hesitate to close the doors of opportunity which others wait to enter.

Perhaps they are reluctant to interfere with opportunities for income enhancement by hardworking subordinates, who would be denied the opportunity for a better life if corruption were ended.

Perhaps they worry about revolt from the masses of government workers who could not afford to maintain even a modest lifestyle, without extra income from illegal sources.

Many government officials may want to perform bureaucratic surgery on this "cancer" of corruption that is devastating the nation's spirit, the nation's reputation and the nation's economy. But given the possible ramifications, can Indonesia afford to stop corruption? Would we feel compelled to answer "No, not yet"?

A campaign against corruption is not difficult to begin. In every local government office that provides official services or issues documents, permits or licenses, a notice stating the official fee for each service or document should be displayed. The notice could list not only the fee, but the required procedures for obtaining the desired item, any documents required and other relevant information. No notice, no fee, no exception. This practice should apply to every official transaction, from the issuances of identity cards (KTPs) in the smallest village to approvals for building the country's longest bridge. This would not be a complex or costly reform to institute and it could start immediately. The President could easily decree that each governor arrange for fees-and-procedures notices to be posted by the end of this month. This would be a small sign to restive students of the government's commitment to transparency and reform. In fact, as an academic project and a channel for their political energies, students in relevant departments could be assigned to collect and verify information and report on fees and procedures for official transactions in their districts.

Providing clear information to the public would be a first step toward eliminating illegal levies and curbing corruption. More would be needed -- local tribunals of trustworthy arbitrators to handle allegations of violations and redress wrongs, a system of numbered official receipts to replace the charmingly personal receipt books that are now popular with some officials. But give people a concrete instance of reform-forced transparency on a local level and the people will soon find ways to carry reform forward.

Every nation, including the Vatican, has had to deal with the problem of corruption. Other countries have declared war on the problem and found ways to reduce corruption substantially, though not eliminate it perfectly. Do Indonesia's current leaders have the energy and political courage to bring the country's public ethics and civil service into the 21st century? Who will sound the call to action?

The writer, a former American diplomat, is director of PT Far Horizons.