Fighting graft 'must top next president's to-do list'

Fighting graft 'must top next president's to-do list'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fighting corruption tops the list of things that Indonesia's next
president must do in their first 100 days in office, if they want
to gain the people's confidence and support, a reform advocacy
group says.

The Partnership for Governance Reform launched on Friday a
list of 20 things that must be prioritized by the new president
in order to gain the widespread and sustainable public support
necessary to govern effectively for the next five years.

"The 20 programs for reform ... if implemented, can lead to
the establishment of a clean and good government," the group said
in a statement. "These are programs that carry low political
risks and are doable, but still mobilize widespread public
support for the new administration, because of their `quick-win'
nature."

The list had already been presented to Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, a retired Army general and the front-runner ahead of
the Sept. 20 election runoff. He had endorsed the proposal as a
reference for his administration should he be elected, the
partnership's executive director H.S. Dillon said.

The incumbent, President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is the
other contender, has agreed to meet with members of the
partnership to discuss the list on Sept. 17, Dillon said.

On corruption, the partnership said the new president should
immediately execute all court rulings on corruption cases and
handle 10 other corruption cases that have received significant
public attention.

The new president must also give the Corruption Eradication
Commission full authority and the necessary resources, including
personnel and funding, and remove all bureaucratic obstacles to
allow the authorities to effectively deal with corruption cases.

Other programs on the list deal with ensuring that the
government itself is clean, supporting the business community,
helping to improve governance among regional administrations,
improving law enforcement -- with a view to giving the people a
greater sense of justice -- and strengthening security and
defense.

In the past, the president's agenda for their five-year term
had been predetermined by the Guidelines of State Policies
written up by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which
also elected the president and vice president.

This year's election is the first direct presidential
election, while the MPR has lost its power to determine policies.

The partnership said its proposal was designed to fill a gap
and to help the elected president think through the programs they
would embark upon once in office.

The partnership comprises representatives of the government,
civil society, the business world and the international donor
community, who have a shared commitment to promoting governance
reform in Indonesia. The program proposed for the new president
resulted from discussions involving experts from various fields
who are represented in the partnership.