Corruption kills

Corruption kills

Corruption reared its ugly head in Indonesia once again this
week. And sadly, the reaction, both from the public and
government, was one of indifference, even if it caused deaths.

The Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment Foundation said in
a report that up to half of all subsidized medicines, including
donations from foreign governments intended for the poor, had
found their way onto the black market, earning hefty profits,
needless to say.

The consumer group based its claim on the large number of
medicines, many of which still carried the official government
label denoting their origins, found at major markets in the
capital. The sites they surveyed included those well-known as
black markets for pharmaceutical products, such as Pramuka,
Glodok, Blok M, Senen, Kramat Jati, Benhil and Rawa Bening.

What really disturbs us the most is that the report came amid
complaints from thousands of poor people about lack of access to
inexpensive drugs to treat the various diseases in the aftermath
of the major flood disaster in Jakarta. There have even been
reports of deaths because patients, including children, were not
treated promptly for lack of medicine.

If the report by the consumer agency is true -- 50 percent of
all subsidized medicines seems a bit high, but then this is
Indonesia, where anything is possible -- we can see a link
between the shortage of medicines that many poor people are
complaining about on the one hand, and the presence of many
government-subsidized medicines on the black market on the other.

The report itself makes appalling reading, but the
government's response -- or lack of it -- is deplorable. Such
indifference to reports of embezzlement has become all too
familiar in this country. When Minister of Health Sujudi was
confronted with the issue during a legislative hearing, he was
dismissive, promising that the matter would be investigated, and
let the matter rest.

Unfortunately, if past official promises are anything to go
by, usually that is exactly what will happen: The matter will be
put to rest, there will not be any meaningful investigation and
the practice will continue.

The response by the Jakarta Health Agency was typical. It
concluded that the consumer group's report was unsubstantiated
after checking on a list of medicines at a single community
health center in the Tanah Abang district in Central Jakarta.

Surely, an allegation as serious as this, and with such dire
consequences, deserves a thorough investigation? The least the
government should do is to conduct random inspections of
community health centers, and of the markets that reportedly sell
these subsidized medicines.

Such indifference either suggests complacency, or worse, a
cover-up attempt. What is certain is that the profiteers at the
black markets could not have had access to the subsidized
medicines without the help of insiders. How far or how high up,
are the officials involved in this scam is for the authorities to
discover. Being dismissive is not going to help. It is probably
high time for the police to take over the investigation from the
ministry.

Corruption, as we all know too well, is never a win-win game.
One person's gain is almost always someone else's loss. In the
case of the government-subsidized medicines, the profit raked in
by the profiteers, including the officials involved, comes at the
expense of poor people. Thousands of people have been deprived of
access to inexpensive drugs precisely because of these corrupt
practices.

Looking at the official and public indifference to the report,
this country seems to have completely resigned itself to the
widespread practice of corruption. Nearly four years have elapsed
since Indonesia ushered in the reform era, in which the
eradication of corruption was one of the main goals of reform;
yet the country seems to have gone back to the old norms and
practices.

The campaign against corruption, collusion and nepotism,
referred to by the Indonesian acronym KKN, has remained but a
chimera throughout all three administrations we have had since
1998. It is really amazing to note how we as a nation have
quickly forgotten that it was KKN that brought this nation to its
knees, and it is also the thing that is hampering the recovery
process.

In China and Vietnam, two Asian countries that have had
serious problems of corruption, they have begun executing
corruptors for their misdeeds in order to deter others from doing
the same. In this country, corruption continues unabated, even,
as in the case of subsidized medicines, it kills people, either
directly or indirectly. We can only wish that some day these
corruptors will get a taste of their own medicine.