If non-government organization people often perceived

If non-government organization people often perceived
themselves or being perceived by the public perceived as clean
and honest persons, we should rethink the perception, since the
arrest and detention of Mulyana W. Kusuma, a member of the
General Elections Commission (KPU), in an alleged corruption
case.

He was appointed as one of National Election Commission (KPU)
since three years ago. A criminologist, and a reputable human
rights activist from YLBHI (Indonesian Law Aid Foundation),
Mulyana, also held a position of chairman in Indonesian Committee
for Free and Fair Election (KIPP) back in the mid 1990s.

KPU has a difficult and almost impossible task, to run a first
direct election, that consists complicated system and operational
processes.

The investigation on Mulyana is still going, it is not
appropriate to comment on the case, meanwhile the fact-finding
team is still doing their job, and hopefully, in next few weeks,
the mystery clouds Mulyana and other KPU members will soon
uncovered.

Among NGO activists there are two different stand points in
looking at Mulyana's case, whether Mulyana was victimized and
others argued that Mulyana is innocent in this case. Other point
of view sees that Mulyana's case should be investigated
carefully, and if Mulyana was proven try to bribe state auditor
officer, he should be jailed as other corruptors.

Are NGO people not immune from corruption?. Many NGO activists
probably were clean in the past. But we should consider that
people can really change their attitude, their behavior, due to
many factors; economic and political interests, those are among
the reason why NGO people change their behavior.

As an activist ,I should admit that being NGO activist is not
a glorious life, and sometimes many NGO activists see that NGO
sector is only a stepping stone to pursue a better life, whether
join the bureaucracy or the private sector.

It is very sad that an NGO activist like Mulyana was involved
in such case, a practice that has been long criticized by many
NGO activists. If Mulyana was found guilty in bribery and
corruption attempt, it shames the NGO, and for fair, it also
reflects that "money can buy anything", and NGO activists often
cannot resist this temptation.

Other reflection from this case is whether the role of NGO is
changing in a changing economic and political situation in
Indonesia nowadays. How can NGO people really contribute their
effort to enrich, and to foster better situation in Indonesia?

NGO activists alone cannot do much, because they really depend
of other stakeholders to cope with this hard situation. We must
admit that NGO activists can only participate in some specific
issues, partial problems, and sometimes actions that have been
done, just give a little impact to public.

Most of NGO activists have their own idealistic type of
condition they want to promote, and by doing so, they
collaborated with other stakeholders, from funding agencies, with
specific targeted community, together with some experts, and
government agencies as well.

Sometimes funding agencies -- both domestic and foreign --
have their own preferences in particular issues to cope with, and
local NGOs sometimes become only an extension of agencies's
interest. That's why most NGOs sometimes have to bargain, have to
negotiate with funding agencies, so that two different interest
can meet at one point.

There are jokes about "man of project", where an activist is
looking for projects to survive. From this project they can
ensure sustainability of their institutions. But at the same,
this attitude can erode their idealistic conception on how to
enrich and foster better situation in targeted community.

Mulyana's case also reflects the phenomenon, that NGO
activists are not immune in terms of corruption case, and NGO
like other source of public officials recruits, have to have big
guts to stay clean in many public institutions.

But we cannot jump into conclusion that all the NGO activist
also pursue their economic benefit in running their
organizations. There are still many NGO activists were
consistent with their idealistic conception of society, and to be
fair, we should also note that some of them also change their
ideological position when the political system change.

Slowly but sure, there are some elements in the NGO activist
that tend to change their ideological position, and be part of
the new government, or other state institutions, and lead their
way contradict with their former ideology.

It is worthy to note that NGO activist face bigger challenge
when they enter the corrupt system. They alone, cannot fight
against corrupt system, but at least, they can show us on how
they live properly and accordingly to what they struggle before.

The writer is a researcher in Institute for Press and
Development Studies (LSPP), Jakarta. He can be contacted through
ignh@yahoo.com)

3. Star--

1 x 30

;THE STAR;
ANPAk..r..
Malaysia-higher-education
JP/6/Opinion page

The onus is on higher education

V.K. Chin
The Star/Asia News Network
Selangor

The unemployed graduates issue has been publicly discussed for
many years and, despite many attempts by both the government and
the private sector, it is far from being resolved.

One wonders how many more years will be required before the
public universities and government-sponsored institutions can do
something to put this matter to rest.

Once again, due to the many shortcomings, the Government has
to fork out tens of millions to continue with its training
program for unemployed graduates, including diploma and
certificate holders, to assist them in finding jobs.

Actually, once they have completed their university and
diploma education, they should be able to look after themselves,
at least on paper. However, this is not happening and the
Government, via the Human Resources Ministry, has once again
stepped in.

The program to help the trainees acquire knowledge in English,
communicative skills and information communications technology
had produced satisfactory results; most of those who had
undergone the course were able to find work.

However, the new batch of trainees will no longer get the
RM500 monthly allowance during the six-month course, which was
enjoyed by earlier groups.

The allowance was to relieve them of the financial burden of
having to use their own money for their daily expenses such as
transport, food and other incidentals.

This allowance has been perceived as being too generous and
the Government will be able to make a saving of RM3,000 per
participant in doing away with this additional expenditure.

The savings should be used to provide more places for those in
need of such training. This incentive could be abused as some
were attending the course just for the pocket money.

Some of the institutions offering the course could have abused
this training scheme by inflating their enrollment figures and
pocketing the additional funds allotted to them.

With so many private institutions being involved, it is quite
difficult for the ministry to monitor all their activities. Quite
often it would have to depend on the honesty of these operators.

Hopefully, this will be the last training program for
unemployed graduates and diploma holders, as the Government
cannot be expected to keep on bankrolling such activities.

This should be the responsibility of the public universities
and other institutions, which are given hundreds of millions a
year to provide their students with the skills and knowledge to
play a useful role in national development.