City shrugs off corruption survey
City shrugs off corruption survey
Damar Harsanto and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo dismissed on Thursday a survey
carried out by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), in
which Jakarta topped the list of most corrupt cities, and called
it unreasonable.
"It is not reasonable to compare Jakarta with other smaller
cities in the country," Fauzi was quoted as saying by city
spokesman Catur Laswanto.
Fauzi argued that because 80 percent of money that circulates
in the country goes through Jakarta, it would be unfair to
compare the capital with other cities with a far smaller percent
of business transactions.
He claimed that if the survey had used the same yardstick to
measure Jakarta against other small cities, the city would
certainly be the least corrupt.
"The TII survey needs to consider other aspects, such as
investment values in respective cities, budget allocation and the
number of companies operating in those cities," he said.
TII on Wednesday revealed the results of a corruption survey
in 21 provinces, municipalities and regencies, which showed that
Jakarta was the most corrupt city in the country, followed by
Surabaya, Medan, Semarang and Batam regency.
It also placed the small town of Bondowoso in East Java as the
cleanest region, followed by Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan,
Makassar in South Sulawesi, and Cilegon in Banten province.
Councillors, however, welcomed the survey and urged both the
local administration and the City Council to view the survey's
results as valuable information for self-correction.
Secretary to the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) faction in
the City Council Selamat Nurdin said that his faction appreciated
any group that contributed to fighting corruption.
"With the information, we need to work harder in fighting
against corruption. Relevant agencies like the City Audit Body
(Bawasda) needs to follow up on such information," Nurdin told
The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He also pointed out that the survey was valuable because
allegations of unrelenting corruption had always been dismissed
by officials as mere rumors among the public.
Therefore, Nurdin added, the survey should become a strong
indication that rampant corruption was continuing unabated in the
city -- both within the administration and within the Council.
"I hope the survey will encourage legal enforcers to find and
prosecute corrupt people," he stated.
Similarly, the Council's deputy speaker Maringan Pangaribuan
said that he was not surprised by the survey, because it was only
a confirmation of unconfirmed reports on corruption.
He believed that rampant corruption still occurred in nearly
all agencies under the city administration, particularly due to
the failure of bureaucratic reforms.
"The bureaucracy has not been touched by the reform process.
Therefore, many corruption cases will not be discovered. The
Council will encourage the administration to carry out serious
bureaucratic reform," he added.
Maringan admitted that corruption also involved many
councillors, but stressed that the frequency was not comparable
to the corruption within the administration.
Damar Harsanto and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo dismissed on Thursday a survey
carried out by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), in
which Jakarta topped the list of most corrupt cities, and called
it unreasonable.
"It is not reasonable to compare Jakarta with other smaller
cities in the country," Fauzi was quoted as saying by city
spokesman Catur Laswanto.
Fauzi argued that because 80 percent of money that circulates
in the country goes through Jakarta, it would be unfair to
compare the capital with other cities with a far smaller percent
of business transactions.
He claimed that if the survey had used the same yardstick to
measure Jakarta against other small cities, the city would
certainly be the least corrupt.
"The TII survey needs to consider other aspects, such as
investment values in respective cities, budget allocation and the
number of companies operating in those cities," he said.
TII on Wednesday revealed the results of a corruption survey
in 21 provinces, municipalities and regencies, which showed that
Jakarta was the most corrupt city in the country, followed by
Surabaya, Medan, Semarang and Batam regency.
It also placed the small town of Bondowoso in East Java as the
cleanest region, followed by Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan,
Makassar in South Sulawesi, and Cilegon in Banten province.
Councillors, however, welcomed the survey and urged both the
local administration and the City Council to view the survey's
results as valuable information for self-correction.
Secretary to the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) faction in
the City Council Selamat Nurdin said that his faction appreciated
any group that contributed to fighting corruption.
"With the information, we need to work harder in fighting
against corruption. Relevant agencies like the City Audit Body
(Bawasda) needs to follow up on such information," Nurdin told
The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He also pointed out that the survey was valuable because
allegations of unrelenting corruption had always been dismissed
by officials as mere rumors among the public.
Therefore, Nurdin added, the survey should become a strong
indication that rampant corruption was continuing unabated in the
city -- both within the administration and within the Council.
"I hope the survey will encourage legal enforcers to find and
prosecute corrupt people," he stated.
Similarly, the Council's deputy speaker Maringan Pangaribuan
said that he was not surprised by the survey, because it was only
a confirmation of unconfirmed reports on corruption.
He believed that rampant corruption still occurred in nearly
all agencies under the city administration, particularly due to
the failure of bureaucratic reforms.
"The bureaucracy has not been touched by the reform process.
Therefore, many corruption cases will not be discovered. The
Council will encourage the administration to carry out serious
bureaucratic reform," he added.
Maringan admitted that corruption also involved many
councillors, but stressed that the frequency was not comparable
to the corruption within the administration.