Indonesia signs UN Convention Against Corruption

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday (Friday Jakarta time), but critics doubted its commitment to implementing the pact in fighting against corruption.

Witnessed by the UN secretary-general's legal adviser, Hans Correl, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra signed the convention issued in Vienna in October.

Indonesia, according to Yusril, supported the substance of the convention, particularly the obligation of signatory countries to cooperate in tracing corrupted wealth deposited in a foreign country.

"We strongly support the convention," he told Antara after signing the convention in New York, saying that the government was ready to ratify the convention.

Yusril said Indonesia expected the world body to influence more member countries, particularly those well-known among corruptors for laundering money, to adopt the convention.

As many as 39 countries have signed the convention in Mexico. The UN has said that the convention would take effect in Dec. 2005 after 30 countries had signed it.

"We expect Singapore to adopt and ratify the convention because many Indonesian corruptors deposit their ill-gotten gains in that country," he said.

Indonesia has often complained about the neighboring country's refusal to respond to Indonesia's call to extradite alleged and convicted corruptors that have fled to Singapore.

"Singapore has often refused to engage in talks over corruption. We are disappointed at Singapore for always rejecting the idea," he said, saying that political pressure was mandatory to force Singapore to sign and ratify the convention.

Yusril was unable to sign the convention in Mexico as President Megawati Soekarnoputri ordered him to represent the government in a series of hearings with the Constitutional Court.

The new convention, which covers both corruption in both private and government sectors, puts the highlight on the requirement of member states to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they were stolen.

The convention also stipulates that member states have to evaluate legal instruments and administrative requirements periodically for their effectiveness in preventing corruption.

According to the convention, a member state must criminalize the most prevalent forms of corruption -- such as the giving, offering or receiving of bribes -- in both the public and private sectors.

Separately in Jakarta, the Muhammadiyah Students Association (IMM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) to adopt an antibribery pact, initiated by the latter.

Ahmad Rofiq, who chairs the IMM, said that the MOU required IMM not to become involved in bribery as well as to campaign against bribery in society.

"We shall be critical of Kadin. We are giving consideration to requesting that Kadin give us access to information so we can also monitor the implementation of Kadin's antibribery pact. We all know that businesspeople are exposed to bribery," he said.

However, Rofiq also called on Kadin, and other elements of society, to monitor the IMM's commitment to eradicate bribery. The pact will last until 2015.

Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Ulama, the two largest Muslim organizations in the country, have signed an agreement to eradicate corruption. The move was later followed by other religious and social organizations in the country.

Corruption permeates almost all parts of the country, despite the so-called reform movement following the downfall of president Soeharto in 1998. One of the targets of the movement is corruption.

Unfortunately, no significant result has been achieved so far. Recently, the World Economic Forum ranked Indonesia as 60th (of a total 102 countries surveyed) in terms of business competitiveness.

According to the forum, rampant corruption and ineffective bureaucracy are the two most important factors behind the country's low business competitiveness index.