Integrity is all they have

Appreciation and admiration should go to the panel of judges at the state court in Padang, West Sumatra, who handed down unprecedented guilty verdicts on May 18 to 43 provincial councillors for graft. They were given jail terms of between 24 and 37 months. These verdicts imply that there is hope for the law being enforced in the country.

The bravery of the panel of judges was, to a certain extent, due to their possession of integrity, meaning they are honest and firm in their moral principles, by which they knew the councillors' behavior was not right, proper or acceptable.

Tragically, these particular events happened in a society which bases its daily life on religious and customary symbols that literally say custom is based on sharia and sharia is based on God's book.

There are those who honor these religious and customary symbols, and there are those who do not. The latter were given "God's punishment" through the aforementioned court verdict.

The "successful" law enforcement in Padang could actually set an example for other regions, as there is ample evidence of graft involving regional councillors. The root cause of the problem, prosecution not withstanding, lies primarily in the implementation of Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.

In the past three years, the imposition of the law has created "little rulers" (The Jakarta Post, May 19) both at the provincial and regency levels. Loopholes in articles 19/1/G, 21/2 and 29/5 that give councillors the right to determine their own budgets have been used accordingly to give themselves tremendously high salaries and generous retirement funds.

With a revision of the regional autonomy law and a number of other laws high on the agenda of the House of Representatives before its term ends in October, it is likely the loopholes will be addressed. It is expected the revised law will implant a strong sense of integrity among law making bodies and law enforcers, and create better governance.

M. RUSDI Jakarta