House members shocked by collective graft
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta
Shocked by the conviction of 43 provincial legislators in West Sumatra, House of Representatives members said on Tuesday that such collective corruption was growing among state officials due partly to poor supervision under regional autonomy.
"We are very concerned over the reality that corruption has been committed, not only individually, but collectively," legislator Paturungi Parawansa said.
This phenomenon shows that state officials are plagued by a moral crisis as they no longer listen to their conscience while carrying out their duties, he said.
"Such a collective scam can be classified as an institutional crime," Parawansa of the Golkar Party said during a hearing between House Commission II for law and home affairs and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno.
Parawansa and another House member M. Lumbang Tobing, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said they were shocked by the graft case.
It could become an uncontrollable trend that could jeopardize political stability, they said.
43 members of the 55-strong West Sumatra legislative council were found guilty on Monday for corruption involving Rp 6.4 billion from the province's 2002 budget.
Council speaker Arwan Kasri and his two deputies Masfar Rasyid and Titi Nazif Lubuk were sentenced to two years and three months in prison, while 40 other councillors got two years, but they are all free pending appeal.
They were also obliged to return to the province their ill- gotten gains, ranging from Rp 100 million to Rp 180 million each, and fined an additional Rp 100 million each.
The funds that were manipulated included insurance allowances, rent for official houses and cellular phone bills.
"We fear that such a collective crime has already become a trend as it also happened in West Java," Tobing said, referring to a graft case, for which all 30 members of the Cirebon legislative council and a former local mayor were named suspects.
The Cirebon councillors were charged with embezzling state funds from their 2001 budget. An investigation is underway.
According to Tobing, the rampant corruption in regions was partly due to weak supervision and implementation of the Autonomy Law.
Also, Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa, deputy chairman of the House's special commission for reviewing the Autonomy Law, blamed the graft scam on incomplete concepts and misinterpretations of regional autonomy.
"The collective corruption has become a trend since regional heads and legislators emerged as the new local elite or new 'rulers' who feel free from the central government's supervision," he said, citing that the trend could be seen in the issuance of more than 3,000 regulations, some of which were not in line with the Autonomy Law and affected the investment climate.
Therefore, Agun said, the House has proposed that accountability be improved between regional and central administrations, while adding that the central government's supervisory role could then be aimed at minimizing corruption.
Meanwhile, Hari hailed the West Sumatra court's verdicts against the 43 councillors, but stressed that the convictions should not prevent the West Sumatra council from functioning properly.
"The case should not destroy the provincial council's legitimacy because without the legislators, the legislature could not function," he said without elaborating.