Exporting corruption?

This is a follow-up to an article which appeared in the Sept. 19 edition of The Jakarta Post, which was itself a follow-up to an earlier complaint of corruption against an immigration official in Medan. Although there had been earlier complaints about this official, there was no official response until June 1998, when the Post published an article from me referring to immigration corruption. The director general of immigration quickly responded to the public allegations, threatening to charge me with defamation if I could not substantiate my allegations. But when in the wake of public exposure the director general sent investigators to Medan, a number of witnesses did come forward to substantiate the allegations.

For more than two months, despite our repeated requests for feedback, the Indonesian bureaucracy was suspiciously silent about whether this official was found guilty or not, was disciplined or not. Finally some time ago a Los Angeles source did confirm what happened to the official. He has been assigned to the Indonesian Consulate General in Los Angeles, enjoying all the privileges and immunities of a diplomat.

It is unlikely that this official will be in a position to shake down American citizens for payoffs. But for Indonesians who need to use their consulate's immigration service, it's a different story. Indonesians who have long lived under a regime of intimidation and threats from the repressive Soeharto government, find it hard to believe that they have the freedom to say "No" to government extortion, even when they are overseas. Unless there is public pressure on the Indonesian government to explain how a man in the midst of a corruption investigation was given this choice assignment, he is likely to find ways to enrich himself while in LA at the expense of his fellow Indonesians. (Why this official, who reportedly had friends in high places, was rewarded rather than disciplined begs the question whether there was collusion between him and higher level persons in a position to quash the investigation before it bore fruit). What kind of message does this send to other Indonesian officials, or to observers of Indonesia's reform movement, when a senior official accused of serious corruption is rewarded by a prized overseas assignment? Will the director general answer this letter as openly as he did the original one?

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra