Fight against graft 'key to RI recovery'

Fight against graft 'key to RI recovery'

JAKARTA (JP): Combating corruption is essential to Indonesia's
economic recovery, but the country's anti-corruption efforts can
only be effective if they begin with a credible demonstrated
commitment at the highest levels of government, according to a
senior official of the World Bank.

Katherine Marshall said on Saturday that due to questions
surrounding government credibility, immediate action should be
taken to ensure that corruption would not interfere with the
urgent task of meeting Indonesia's humanitarian needs.

"It is crucial to ensure that fund leakage in social safety
net programs is not tolerated. The government needs to treat this
matter with the utmost seriousness," she told journalists at a
media conference.

Marshall was invited by the government to lead a fact-finding
mission to help the crisis-hit country combat corruption, which
is deemed to be one of the major factors which lead to the crisis
and which is viewed as a major stumbling block to recovery.

A World Bank internal memorandum leaked to a newspaper last
month disclosed that Indonesian government officials were
believed to have siphoned off 20 percent of the bank's loans to
the country.

Local economists were not surprised by the figure, but urged
the government and donor institutions to make sure that the US$14
billion in additional overseas funding to help the country's poor
survive the economic crisis would not be embezzled by corrupt
officials.

Marshall and a team of international anti-corruption experts
will recommend immediate measures which can be taken to protect
the supply of food and medicine to the poor and vulnerable.

Obstacle

"After seeking the advice of numerous Indonesian political
figures, officials, business leaders, humanitarian rights
campaigners, non-governmental organizations and others, we are
persuaded that corruption is an obstacle to helping those hurt
most by the economic crisis. We believe social safety net
projects should be a priority for anti-corruption action," she
said.

"The problems of the present system of corruption developed
over many years and it would be naive to believe they can be
solved overnight," she said, adding that a good place to start
would be to do everything possible to ensure that the
humanitarian aid reaches those for whom it is intended.

She admitted that even under the best circumstances, the
social safety net program would be difficult to run well because
it left many areas open to question.

"There must be a commitment to honesty and an effective use of
funds in driving this program."

A separate World Bank mission is to make recommendations on
improving supervision of the bank's projects in the country. The
recommendations will also be applicable to other donor
organizations.

Marshall said urgent action was also needed to improve
transparency and the disclosure of information.

She pointed out that specific short-term actions could include
protection for social safety net programs, action on freedom of
information, protection for those who expose corruption,
declaration of assets belonging to government officials and
avoidance of conflicts of interest.

To this end, Marshall's team is exploring possible mechanisms
including special committees, workshops and surveys to help map
the use of funds.

In the medium term, the team would recommend a focus on making
much more information about development programs available,
particularly at the level where they affect people, she said.

"There is an emerging consensus between the government and its
international donors, with extensive backing from civil society,
on the need for good governance, openness and transparency," the
World Bank's country director for Indonesia, Dennis de Tray, said
in a statement on Saturday.

"Now we need concrete action to demonstrate that the
government is delivering on its commitment to combat the cancer
of corruption. Indonesia's fight against corruption is crucial to
the country's recovery from crisis," he said.

"This is a marathon effort that may take generations, but
given the urgency of the challenge facing Indonesia and its
partners, we think it is vital that action should start now,"
Marshall said, adding that is was also important to find ways to
push anti-corruption ideas forward into a coherent and credible
strategy.

When asked if he thought the IMF and the World Bank were
running Indonesia, De Tray said: "We're not running the country.
The people and the government are running the country. We're just
advisers and financiers, and we'll do our best to help
Indonesia." (rei)