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)
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;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.