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.