Embezzlers outnumber law enforcers, AGO says
Rendi A. Witular and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Attorney General Abdul Rahman has the answer as to why Indonesia is still considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world despite its persistent fight against graft under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"The problem is embezzlers outnumber prosecutors," Abdul Rahman he said on Wednesday.
The latest global Corruption Perceptions Index issued by the Berlin-based Transparency International placed Indonesia among the six most corrupt nations, along with Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Iraq, Liberia and Uzbekistan, out of 159 countries surveyed.
Based on the perceptions of business leaders, academics, antigraft activists and risk analysts across Indonesia, the country scored only 2.2 out of a possible 10, given to the least corrupt nations.
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) head expressed no surprise over the finding, although he said the government deserved credit for its anticorruption drive.
"That's what the survey says. We should accept it. But, we should also give the government credit for not halting probes into graft as happened in the past," Anwar said.
Abdul Rahman said his office was selecting 25 prosecutors from various regions, who are known to have clean track records, to help the Attorney General's Office handle high-profile corruption cases.
"We are also asked to supply more seasonal prosecutors to the KPK, which has complained about its workload," Abdul Rahman said, referring to the Corruption Eradication Commission.
The KPK is in the vanguard of the antigraft campaign, focusing on cases that caused at least Rp 1 billion (US$100,000) in state losses. It has prosecuted an incumbent governor and several members of the General Elections Commission and is now investigating an alleged case of "verdict buying" involving Supreme Court justices, judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
The Attorney General's Office recruited 50 prosecutors from the regions in July to back up its anticorruption division. There are some 6,000 prosecutors across the country.
Abdul Rahman said the war on corruption was not solely the domain of the government.
"All Indonesians, including lawyers, must work together to stamp out corruption, rather than depending on prosecutors and police officers only," he said.
Legal observers suspect corrupt law enforcers have been undermining the antigraft movement.
Although saying that Transparency International's survey was baseless due to its unclear evaluation system, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said the government believed it had made headway in cracking down on corruption.
"There are a lot of improvements in out efforts to combat corruption. It may be the first time in our history that governors, regents, and legislators are questioned by prosecutors and police over corruption. This is a breakthrough," said Aburizal.
Aburizal also said the country's business community had expressed satisfaction with the decreasing level of corruption in the bureaucracy following the government's intensive measures to stamp out the practice.
"TI should be fair in seeing the problem. We are not sitting on our hands doing nothing to address this matter. They should look at our efforts," he said.