Hiding behind 'grants'

Hiding behind 'grants'

The general public and officials of the Public Servants'
Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) are tired of reading reports on
so many public servants becoming unbelievably rich due to
enormous hibah, or unidentified grants, that they have received
from certain parties.

In fact the degree of astonishment could have been less
serious if the commission members and our awe-struck people
realized that the kleptomaniac regime of former president
Soeharto reacted indifferently toward the reality that corruption
had reached dangerous proportions during his three decades of
autocratic rule. The despot also taught his supporters within his
regime the art of flaunting their ill-gotten wealth without
provoking strong reaction among the less-privileged groups of
society.

So now we witness corrupt officials shamelessly riding in the
world's most expensive cars, like Jaguar, amid the poor. In this
demonstration of social insensitivity we are expected to remind
ourselves that corrupt bureaucrats are the illegitimate sons born
out of a marriage between iron-fist rule and immorality.

The use of the word "grant" by suddenly rich bureaucrats or
former supporters, is part of their insult because in daily life
grant means a special grant bequeathed unequivocally by someone
to another. There are no strings attached. In recent years many
ordinary people have donated grants to social or educational
organizations for charity purposes.

Now, rational thinking people seem to need to rationalize even
further to understand why public servants have suddenly gotten
such huge fortunes, which they could not gain from their salaries
even if they worked for 100 years. It is interesting to note that
the most shocking report about this game called "grants" comes
from Fuad Bawazier, at one time Soeharto's minister of finance.
He claimed that 80 percent of his fortune worth Rp 50 billion,
came from unexpected grants. His statement sent shock waves
throughout the archipelago because normal thinking people could
not accept the logic behind it.

Fuad has reportedly been angered by the public skepticism of
his sincerity in the report and said that there was no dirty
business dealings behind his wealth. But the public reaction is
understandable because no one had previously heard that he had
been so rich before he assumed the position of director general
of tax and the minister of finance or that he had come from a
family of generous moguls.

At least for the commission this is a test case. To convince
the people that President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
administration's crusade to establish clean governance is an all-
out war against corruption, the commission should seriously probe
into the illogical grants reports by investigating the nature of
the gift, its origin and whether the givers and the receivers had
paid tax.

Public servants are not allowed to receive anything directly
or indirectly from anybody, but at the same time there is not a
severe enough penalty that can be imposed for violating this
rule. But if corrupt dealings are found in a report, the
commission should send the case to law enforcement agencies to be
processed later by the court.

There is a trend emerging now with more people pinning their
hopes on the commission's anticorruption drive because they have
not yet seen the new attorney general, MA Rachman, taking an
interest in the crusade. His appointment to the job looks very
much like an anticlimax to an anticorruption campaign advocated
by his predecessor, Baharuddin Lopa, who died on duty three
months ago. Rachman must be reminded that the trend by
bureaucrats of breaching the people's trust is the most dangerous
epidemic faced by the nation today.