Exporting corruption?

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