Decree on ethics in govt to help combat corruption

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Corrupt officials may suffer some sleepless nights after the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) winds up its 10-day Annual Session on Nov. 10.

The Assembly, the highest law-making body in the nation, is set to issue a decree on government ethics which requires state officials to resign if they are implicated in a scandal.

Although pessimists do not believe the decree will change governance for the better, it raises a new hope in the effort to combat acute corruption.

If the decree is effective there will be strong grounds for the public to pressure any corrupt official to quit office.

Currently, state officials implicated in a scandal will insist on staying in office until they are convicted in a court of law.

And taking the defendants to court has often ended in disappointment as they usually come out clean.

The Assembly decree comes at a time when House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who is also an MPR member, is implicated in the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion in funds from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The decree on ethics for clean and efficient governance aims at promoting transparency, accountability and responsiveness. The draft decree requires that state officials maintain a high priority on public service and resign if they are implicated in a violation of norms or deemed unable to fulfill demands from society, the nation and the state.

It requires all state officials and politicians to uphold dignity, sincerity and to resign if proven guilty of wrongdoing or if their policies betray the people's sense of justice.

Good ethics should materialize as honesty, tolerance and truthfulness. "If the moral punishment is ineffective, the law must be strictly enforced," it says.

Hajriyanto Thohari, an MPR member involved in the drafting of the decree, said that the state figure implicated in any wrongdoing should immediately resign without waiting for due legal process.

"We are simply trying to introduce the tradition of the Japanese samurai in which officials must quit if they are involved in any wrongdoing," he told The Jakarta Post.

Hajriyanto said as an example that in the future the transportation minister should resign if a major train collision occurs, even though it is caused by human error. "The minister has moral accountability," he added.

He said the public would be able to judge which officials had good ethics and which did not. "If they keep their public position that means they have no ethical responsibility," he said.

When the decree is issued and properly enforced, it is possible that a large number of state officials will face removal from office.

According to the Indonesia Corruption Watch, there are at least 15 major cases of corruption involving state officials.

They are cases related to Bulog, Pertamina state oil firm's pipeline projects, the suspected bribery of attorney general Andi M. Ghalib, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the General Election Commission, Texmaco textile manufacturer, Bank Bali, the clove trade, Paiton gas power plant, PT Freeport, the forestry sector, Indonesian Bank liquidity credits and workers' social insurance, among others.

State officials implicated in those cases are MPR deputy speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, MPR member Probosutedjo, deputy director of Bank Indonesia Miranda S. Goeltom, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin, Assembly member Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya and House member Enggartiasto Lukito.