Corruption and the 2004 elections

Corruption and the 2004 elections

From Koran Tempo

I am very concerned by a statement made by the coordinator of the Indonesian Corruption Watch, Teten Marzuki, in a number of dailies on March 19.

Teten said political corruption was expected to increase ahead of the 2004 general election.

He said this corruption would be triggered by economically motivated politicians raising money by hook or by crook to help their parties win the elections.

If Teten's prediction comes to pass, we can expect even worse days ahead for the country. Before even being elected we would see that these politicians are already prepared to cheat the people. It is easy to predict that the situation would get even worse if one of these politicians was to become president.

Despite the fact that many of our representatives claim to be honest, intelligent, civilized and religious, they do not act as such. The House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly are not places for making money; they are for those who really wish to fight for the interests of the people, not for personal or political interests.

I hope Teten's statement will help us realize that we must create a clean government and ensure the next elections run smoothly.

DARU PRASOJO

Tangerang, Banten