Government antigraft commitment questioned

Government antigraft commitment questioned

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The fight against corruption in the country will bear fruit only
if the government brings to justice a number of high-profile
corruptors, an activist said.

"It (the government) should first jail high-profile state
officials and businesspeople who are implicated in cases of
corruption and abuse of power, so that people will believe the
government is serious in this endeavor," the secretary of the
National Law Commission (KHN), Frans Hendra Winarta, said.

He said the planned establishment of an anticorruption
commission, which would be given extraordinary powers, would be
futile if the government lacked the political will to stamp out
corruption.

"This is not the first time the idea of an anticorruption
commission has emerged. We had many such commissions in the past,
but all failed because there was no political support from the
government," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Hendra was commenting on the decision by the Attorney
General's Office to halt investigations into alleged corruption
cases involving cronies of former president Soeharto. The office
said there was not enough evidence to charge the businesspeople.

Law No. 30/2002 on corruption, which was passed last November,
stipulates that an anticorruption commission must be up and
running by Dec. 27 of this year. The commission will have the
authority to conduct investigations and file lawsuits against
state officials implicated in corruption cases that cause loses
to the state of at least Rp 1 billion (US$117,000).

Thus far, the government has only begun proposing names for
the committee that will select candidates for the anticorruption
commission.

There have been numerous complaints that the government is
dragging its feet in establishing the commission.

The People's Consultative Assembly, in its annual session
earlier this month, recommended the quick establishment of the
anticorruption commission, on the grounds that corruption in the
country had reached alarming levels. Indonesia has been rated as
one of the most corrupt countries in the world by a number of
international research centers.

Hendra said without a strong commitment from the government,
the fate of the planned anticorruption commission would be the
same as that of earlier commissions set up by the government,
including the KHN itself, the National Ombudsman Commission and
the Public Officials Wealth Audit Commission, which were left
powerless by a lack of government support.

The KHN, established during the administration of former
president Abdurrahman Wahid, is struggling to make itself heard
by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, while also dealing with a
lack of funding.

Contacted separately, a legislator from Megawati's Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Firman Jaya Daeli,
said the establishment of the anticorruption commission would
mark a breakthrough in the drive against corruption.

"The planned commission is the legal answer to the political
deadlock in resolving rampant corruption cases involving high-
profile state officials," he told the Post.

He said the independent nature of the planned commission would
deter interference from other institutions. "Besides, those who
will sit as commissioners will be public figures with integrity."

He dismissed public skepticism over the effectiveness of the
planned commission, saying: "Stamping out corruption is not an
easy task, but we have to start somewhere."