House passes clean governance bill
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) endorsed on Thursday a bill on clean governance, which will oblige all government officials to declare their assets when they begin and end their tenures with the state.
The new piece of legislation, expected to be formally enacted into law by President B.J. Habibie, will cover the supervision of all state officials including the president, ministers, senior government officials and managers of state-owned enterprises.
"Their positions are very prone to corruption, collusion and nepotism (known by the Indonesian acronym KKN). This law will eradicate all KKN practices," Golkar spokesman Sofyan Lubis said in the plenary House session to adopt the bill.
According to Minister of Justice Muladi, who represented the government during the bill deliberation process begun in February, the government will soon issue four government regulations and one presidential decree to accelerate the implementation of the legislation.
The administrative bill is officially called the Law on State Administrators Who Are Free from KKN Practices. It will back up the No. 3/1973 Law on the Eradication of Crimes of Corruption, and the No. 11/1980 Law on Bribery and the Criminal Code.
The House is still deliberating an anticorruption bill to amend the No. 3/1973 law.
"The government must intensively educate the public about this law ... to prevent the impression that this law is not in line with the reform spirit," said Sangiang Siregar from the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction.
The law mandates the President, as the head of state, to head a Permanent Commission of Examiners to oversee state officials at executive, legislative and judicatory positions, and officials assigned to state companies.
The commission also has the power to audit state officials holding office, as long as it is for clarification and not investigation purposes.
The court can impose a minimum punishment of a two-year jail and a Rp 200 million fine (US$230,000) for violators of the law.
Under the current system, newly installed officials are required to declare all assets to their superiors, while senior officials, including cabinet members, must report their wealth directly to the president. However, they have no obligations to report their wealth after completing their state duties.
Habibie has been widely criticized for his apparent reluctance to investigate the wealth of his predecessor, Soeharto.
Soeharto's lawyers have even threatened to disclose Habibie's wrongdoings if he insists on investigating the former ruler's wealth.
"With the adoption of this bill, all state officials holding strategic positions, including the president, must abide by its ruling," said an Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction representative, as quoted by Antara.
Muladi has expressed hopes the House will also pass a bill to amend the anticorruption law, to be effective in coping with increasingly sophisticated corrupt practices. (prb)