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)