Candidates' good governance vows meet skeptical responses

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta

Presidential candidates may promise clean governance, but doubts over their own "cleanliness" are holding potential voters back, say observers here.

Mochtar Pabottingi of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said people were looking at the track record of presidential candidates to judge whether their pledges made sense.

"It is impossible for a leader with a bad track record to enforce the law, fight corruptors, appoint clean officials and uphold transparency ...," he said, citing good governance was a end result of rationality in a democracy.

For instance, incumbent president, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Mochtar said, has proved to be incapable of creating good governance as she appointed MA Rachman as her attorney general; he has not shown a significant commitment to combating corruption and was even suspected of graft himself. Megawati is also perceived as having done little to overcome corruption within the bureaucracy, Mochtar said.

Indonesia last ranked 23rd on a list of the 28 most corrupt countries in the world, according to an international organization that focuses on corruption, Transparency International.

From Partnership for Government Reform, an international agency that supports Indonesian good governance, executive director HS Dillon said such governance ought to begin with candidates themselves being transparent about their wealth.

"To set a good example, presidential candidate Wiranto, President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the richest vice presidential candidate, Jusuf Kalla, and others should offer the public an explanation about their own fortunes to establish their own transparency and win voter confidence," he said.

Teten Masduki, coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) concurred, saying corruption, which has become endemic here, "has something to do with the absence of a strong national leader who is able to give a good example in creating good governance."

All the presidential candidates have stressed the need for leaders to set a good example on how the law should be enforced, plus the need to appoint competent officials and for a tough supervision system to be implemented within the bureaucracy.

Ryaas Rasyid, a member of the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid campaign team, cited increased inefficiency through the expansion of several ministries under Megawati's rule. He stressed the importance of incorporating a tight control system within the bureaucracy to minimize corruption.

Candidates' proposals for creating good governance:

1. Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid:
- set good examples
- revamp state institutions
- create effective supervisory system
- appoint competent officials
- improve welfare of officials, civil servants
- uphold legal supremacy.

2. Megawati-Hasyim Muzadi:
- set good examples
- appoint competent, clean officials
- design a new system of governance suited to Indonesia's culture
- encourage use of death sentence for big-time corruptors
- improve welfare of officials, civil servants

3. Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo
- set good examples
- support death sentence for big-time corruptors
- create efficient, effective administration system
- raise salaries of officials, civil servants
- law enforcement

4. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla:
- set good examples
- create effective, efficient administration
- calculate budget needed for administration
- law enforcement

5. Hamzah-Agum:
- set good examples
- law enforcement
- raise national education budget to boost morality and quality of human resources