It's all about corruption

It's all about corruption

From Koran Tempo

I would like to straighten out the terminology in Kurie Suditomo's article. In the first paragraph of his story in Koran Tempo, on May 9, "Halliburton mendulang dari poros setan" (Halliburton pans for gold from axis of evil), Kurie writes, "Such a superpower like the U.S. is not aware of the danger of cronyism, which, in Indonesia, is known as KKN."

KKN stands for corruption, collusion and nepotism. Meanwhile, cronyism is another variant of disgraceful acts committed by public officials, in addition to collusion and nepotism. All of them, however, end in corruption, which is an abuse of power to enrich oneself or other persons. If other people are relatives, it is nepotism. If they are only friends, the relationship is termed cronyism. Collusion involves neither relatives nor friends.

Therefore, within the context of Soeharto's corruption, his connections with Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, Bambang Trihatmodjo, Tommy Suharto and Probosutedjo are nepotism. The cases of Sudono Salim, Bob Hasan and other such bosses are examples of cronyism. Others who enjoyed the benefit of such relations, but who were not close to Soeharto, fall within the category of collusion.

ISKANDAR SIAHAAN Jakarta