Civil society has to say 'enough' to corruption

Good governance and public accountability are major issues for Indonesia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Prof. Graeme Hodge from the Privatization and Public Accountability Center at Monash University in Australia spoke with The Jakarta Post's Fabiola Desy Unidjaja about these issues, as well as a program he is leading to help teach civil servants here about good governance. --------------------------------------------------------------------

Question: What is the main factor for reducing corruption and ensuring the accountability of the government?

Answer: The main factor in ensuring transparent government is distributing power and involving as much public participation as possible.

Things like establishing a stronger, independent anticorruption commission, giving stronger legal teeth to the commission, strengthening the role of the public and also other commissions, they are all important.

I think there are no magic silver bullets to reduce corruption in a short time, but when the civil society says enough is enough and puts pressure on the government, there will be some changes.

Ensuring greater transparency begins with shining lights in many different areas.

The more involved community groups, the more involved citizens ... the more feedback we will get on whether services are good.

The number one thing is to let the people know what is going on inside the government, and also where the money has been spent.

How should we encourage the public to play a role in creating a transparent and accountable government?

We have a common practice in Australia called the declaration of interests, which specifies whether a person has any personal connections which may jeopardize their duties.

Another form also specifies that their family does not have any interests, and I think these public declarations are an effective measure.

Aside from that, I think the establishment of an anticorruption commission is very sensible.

I think there is much more to be done in ensuring that the commission has legal power and adequate resources, and not just the authority to supervise the use of money.

We must put pressure on the government to make sure that the commission is established properly. When there is pressure from citizens, the government will support change.

What is the most effective way to minimize political influence in the establishment of the anticorruption commission?

In many countries that have established independent organizations, which are separate from the political process, politicians have been involved. That's true. But the members should be appointed for specific terms by independent organizations. They do have resources, do have legal power and responsibility in finding corruption.

What usually happens in other countries is that you establish two or three independent organizations. We have many independent organizations because politicians can represent one view, but you need someone else to counter that and you can do that through these independent organizations.

If you have more than one independent organization, they will strengthen each other in ensuring transparent and accountable processes inside the government.

Could you provide some details of the training program that you, in conjunction with AusAID, are running for government officials here?

The program is coordinated through Monash University. We have run the program for 15 years, and many of them (the participants) have been involved in several projects before in the country.

The program itself is called good governance and public management. What it really aims to do is to get people to understand the principles of practices of good governance and to be able to take practical steps toward better accountability, which include public accountability, better management practices and the participation of stakeholders in making decisions and management change.

There are a series of ideas on good governance and we share just the principles, and then they will share these ideas with their coworkers.

There is an evaluation at the end of the program and there are also a series of action plans that they develop. We monitor the implementation of these plans over the next six months, so we have a whole new design for them.

Are you optimistic that the program will further efforts to build good governance?

Of course. There should be a series of programs which involve strengthening the mechanisms and increasing the participation of the people.

It is important for a strong political commitment to transparency, as all good governance issues are tied up to the fact that good governance means democratic political processes and government accountability mechanisms.

It is a difficult issue in most countries in the world, but in building good governance you have to rely both on the political process and public participation.

So with these programs we try to spread the idea of good governance among civil servants, as part of the overall process in the country of achieving good governance.