Government under fire over new anticorruption setup
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government's plan to establish a new anticorruption commission could be interpreted as an attempt to obstruct the drive to eradicate corruption, Nono Anwar Makarim, director of the nonprofit foundation Aksara said on the weekend.
Due to failures in the establishment of similar commissions, "we ought to suspect the plan to set up a new one as a way of diminishing anticorruption efforts," Nono said in a media briefing at Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta.
Nono, who is also a member of the Partnership for Governance Reform, said that various anticorruption commissions had been established by previous governments, including those under former strongman Soeharto, but not a single one of them worked properly.
The inability of such commissions was due mainly to the fact that they focused on only one sector and, more importantly, they were not serious in carrying out their task, Nono said.
The new anticorruption commission to be established is the commission to eradicate crimes involving corruption, popularly referred to as KPTPK.
The government has proposed a draft bill on its establishment for deliberation by the House of Representatives.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on the weekend that, unlike other anticorruption bodies such as the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), KPTPK would have the authority to investigate and take to court all alleged corruption cases.
Yusril insisted that the establishment of KPTPK was badly needed, as rampant corruption constituted a special crime that required a special body to deal with it.
"Its arrangement will be designed in such as way as not to overlap with other anticorruption commissions," Yusril said, as quoted by Antara.
If KPKPN discovered allegations of corruption, for example, it could hand over the cases to KPTPK for further investigation, Yusril said, adding that the House would oversee recruitment of KPTPK members.
According to Nono, combating deep-rooted corruption in the country required more than the establishment of a commission or the punishing of corruptors.
It needed the implementation of a kind of multisectoral and multidimensional strategy, Nono said.
He added that the establishment of an anticorruption body would be effective only if it were accompanied by the setting up of a strong legal base, reform of the related bureaucracies, and aggressive campaigning to raise public awareness to support the effort.
Meanwhile, Frans Hendra Winarta, a member of the National Law Commission, said that the imposition of social punishment was more effective in dealing with corruptors than legal punishment.
"In other countries, corruptors are ostracized by their community, and they are no longer welcomed at their golf club or other community activity groups.
"It would really embarrass them, thereby dissuading them from doing it again," Frans said.
However, he added, this might be difficult in Indonesia because the public was more passive.
He cited as an example the recent national survey on corruption conducted by the Partnership for Governance Reform, in which, while condemning corruption, the majority of respondents said they were also involved in corrupt practices themselves, such as bribing government officials to speed up their decision- making.
"The most important thing now is to change the value system in our society. We have to educate the public not only to condemn but also to be more aware of the dangers of corruption," Frans added.