Eradication of corruption requires clean legal system

Frans H. Winarta, Member, National Law Commission (KHN), Jakarta

There has already been much said about corruption and how to overcome it by various observers, law enforcers, NGO leaders, government officials, educators and religious leaders of different faiths. The cry of reformasi reverberated in 1998 with the fall of the New Order regime, but since that time there are still no signs that the incidence of corrupt practices is diminishing -- let alone that it can be eradicated.

As illustrated by a recent publication of Yayasan Aksara in collaboration with the Partnership for Governance Reform, this country has long been plagued by severe corruption that has touched almost all aspects of national life. No less than 16 studies on corruption in Indonesia were written by writers from a variety of disciplines in respect of graft in the bureaucracy, the courts, the banking sector, state-owned enterprises, foreign aid, the private sector and financial institutions.

Corruption appears to have continued in more sophisticated forms and become even more widespread. It is often conducted even more openly with no sense of shame as if all the writings, all the protests and demonstrations of the reform era have come to nothing and the voice of the people has been ignored. The roots of corruption seem to have dug so deep, become so entrenched and so widespread as to make inroads nearly impossible. Yet, despite this, there are countries that have managed to reduce corruption to minimal levels.

The World Economic Form (WEF) reports that Indonesia is ranked 60 out of 120 countries in terms of competitiveness. This lack of competitiveness is influenced by corruption, inefficiencies in the bureaucracy and political instability. Malaysia is ranked 26th, Singapore 8th, Thailand 32nd and Vietnam 50th. Finland and the United States were found to be the most competitive countries according to the survey. Taiwan and Singapore were listed as the fifth and sixth most prosperous countries respectively in Asia.

Of course, Indonesia is not the only country to suffer from endemic corruption. The problem is of such worldwide significance that the United Nations on October 30, 2003 accepted the Anti- Corruption Agreement -- the first of its kind in the world -- to be signed in Merdia, Mexico on Dec. 9-11, 2003. The draft agreement has been two years in the making and will come into effect within 90 days after being ratified by 30 countries.

In introducing UN acceptance of the agreement, Secretary- General Kofi Annan declared in front of 191 member states of the General Assembly: "The practice of corruption inflicts great pain on the poor. Corruption may become the main cause of the worsening of a country's economy and is a hindrance to development and poverty reduction".

As part of a corruption eradication campaign, we need prosecutors who are specially trained to deal with such crimes, including money laundering, bank fraud, mark-ups, bribery, extortion, conflict of interest, tampering with evidence, falsification of signatures etc. Special expertise is needed to deal with white collar crime. These kinds of investigations are complex and require handling by a new breed of prosecutors who are highly trained, honest, professional and capable of maintaining their integrity. As the cutting edge of the anti- corruption campaign, the prosecution of corruptors by special prosecutors will give much-needed hope to the reform agenda.

The same is true of judges who will need special training to deal with these kinds of cases. In fact, it would be better to form a special court consisting of ad hoc judges to try corruption matters. If big time corruptors can be convicted by specially trained judges, this could have a snowball effect that will win the support of the community that has long been hoping for serious action against corruptors.

In order to respond to increasingly sophisticated crimes of corruption and banking and finance violations, the Public Prosecutor's office has to reform itself from the inside. The Attorney-General's Office is currently preparing a reform program in cooperation with the National Law Commission backed up by the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.

The prosecutor's office needs to strengthen itself with a professional audit team. In order to increase its professionalism in tackling corruption-related crimes, special training is needed in finance, banking, computers and money laundering. All this will require considerable public expenditure. The appointment of prosecutors specially trained to handle corruption is a good start. The recent case of fraud at BNI, for instance, would require a special team of prosecutors skilled in handling such cases. The BNI case could actually be a landmark in the national anti-corruption campaign if the prosecution is well handled and a heavy sentence handed down.

One important issue is how to ensure that this institution at the forefront of law enforcement is free from political interference. The politicizing of the law has been going on for too long. As part of the reform agenda, the institution of public prosecutor must be made sterile from political influence and interest. The community does not want to see the prosecutor or the Attorney-General chasing various corruption suspects from time to time based solely on who is in power at the time. There were different corruption suspects in Habibie's time. They changed under Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency and have changed again now under Megawati.

One idea has been to place the Office of Public Prosecution under the Supreme Court. Actually, this is not appropriate because the institution needs to be in tune with the government's anti-corruption drive. Placing the Prosecution under the auspices of the Supreme Court would mean that the office may not properly act in accordance with policies on fighting crime.

Heavy sentencing for the big fish by corruption courts would give inspiration to other law enforcement bodies and to the community at large who, in turn, will become more courageous in reporting corruption cases. Just by handing down a few heavy sentences to big-time corruptors, the courts will quickly send a signal to the community that the government and the judicial authorities are prepared to at last get tough on corruption.

Only in this way will there be hope in the struggle against corruption that has for so long held a grip on this country. Each breakthrough will lead the way toward a new culture that is less tolerant of corruption. As early as possible at primary schools, children should be taught about the principles of honesty and the need to combat corruption.