Handling of corruption

Handling of corruption

According to a July 8 report in The Jakarta Post, the special
post office box (PO Box 0008) recently established to handle
complaints from the public about official corruption has been
effective. Most of the complaints have been about demands for
payoffs by government officials. However, Deputy Governor Abdul
Khafi has said that results of investigations against officials
will not be made public because the officials should not be
exposed.

Protecting privacy rights of an accused official during an
investigation before proof of wrongdoing has been established is
understandable. But once a public official is found guilty of
having abused his or her public trust and victimizing members of
the public, isn't the public entitled to know that? Mr. Khafi has
said that what is important is to investigate the allegations and
impose the proper sanctions on those who are found guilty. But if
the results of an investigation are not disclosed, how can the
public know that the proper sanctions have been imposed? With all
due respect to Mr. Khafi and other senior officials who handle
corruption complaints, if the investigation system is not more
transparent, if guilty officials are protected by secret
proceedings, then the integrity of investigations and of the
officials handling them will be questioned. Corruption is a crime
in Indonesia. Other criminals are publicly exposed once their
crimes have been proven; why not corrupt officials?

Indonesians speak of cronyism, while expatriates speak of the
"old boys' network". Both terms refer to an unofficial system or
culture which protects people close to those in power, even when
they are guilty of wrongdoing. If a superior official protects a
corrupt subordinate, this leads to suspicion that the superior
and the subordinate have colluded in doing wrong. If a corrupt
official collects unofficial fees and passes some of this money
along to his or her superior in the form of cash or gifts, how
can the superior later discipline the subordinate for corruption?
This may be the key obstacle to eradicating corruption.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra