Eradicating of corruption is 'impossible'

Eradicating of corruption is 'impossible'

JAKARTA (JP): Eradication of corruption is impossible, State
Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi said yesterday.

He told a discussion on future leaders that corruption was
impossible to eradicate because it was common throughout the
world.

"We can only minimize corruption," he said in the discussion
held by the Moslem Students Association.

He conceded that his office had had problems determining the
cause of corruption despite the existence of complete laws and
regulations which could jail corrupt people. He said there were
also mechanisms to prevent corruption.

He said the campaign against corruption was such an uphill
battle that it should be initiated by "clean and authorized
government officials".

"The anticorruption drive should be a top-down policy," he
said. "You only need to dismiss a corrupt person from his office.
That's all."

But he acknowledged that dismissing corrupt officials might be
easier said than done. "Indonesians are well-known for their
kindness. They don't usually have the heart to press for heavy
sanctions against corrupt people," he said.

The minister said it was wrong to say that corruption was
monopolized by government officials.

"The amount of corruption in the private sector is more
horrifying than in government offices," he said.

Silalahi, also president commissioner of the Army-owned Bank
Artha Graha, cited several cases of bad debts at state and
private banks as a symptom of corruption.

He said that many people had used low wages as an excuse to be
corrupt.

"The government, in this case, has always made an effort to
improve its employees' welfare," he said.

The problem was that improving welfare did not always mean
better productivity, he said.

"In Jakarta, staff with higher salaries are absent from
offices more frequently than those on lower salaries," he said.

"You cannot guarantee that they will not be corrupt, either,"
he added.

Silalahi said Indonesians need not be depressed about the
country's record of corruption.

"I am optimistic that we can minimize corruption some day in
the future," he said, adding that Indonesia had achieved high
economic growth in recent years.

The 1996 survey of the Hong Kong-based Politics and Economy
Risk Consultancy (PERC) disclosed that Indonesia ranked third of
the overall 12 most corrupt Asian countries. China came first,
followed by Vietnam. (imn)