JP/6/AGAM

JP/6/AGAM

Partnership to fight corruption: Reflection for CSOs

Agam Fatchurrochman, Jakarta

The West Sumatra District Court in the middle of last month
marked an important milestone in law enforcement regarding the
corruption that has mushroomed in this new era of regional
autonomy. The case involved 43 provincial legislators who were
tried and convicted of corruption for abusing their power for
personal gain.

The fact this unacceptable behavior has been both exposed,
processed through due legal channels and -- most importantly --
has led to a conviction, should be a source of hope to the
corruption-weary public. It should also serve as a strong warning
to other public officials that the "cost" of corruption in
Indonesia is increasingly high.

Although we have more press freedom and civil society has
evolved as the main advocate for democracy, corruption is more
pervasive than ever. Corrupt legislators or "rotten politicians"
are the result of this new power and are found in all places.
Corruption in the new decentralized bureaucracy is continuing the
old tradition, while the judiciary is running without proper
supervision and control.

Although some integrity assurance institutions have now been
introduced -- notably the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) and
the long-awaited Judicial Commission -- non-governmental civil
society organizations (CSOs) remain the backbone of the
anticorruption movement.

Since corruption has spread into the regions partly as a
result of the decentralization of power to local administrations,
decentralized corruption and multi-stakeholder corruption, CSOs
should consider a new approach and improve their relations with
the state and business sectors. Anticorruption movements should
extend their traditional strategy, moving from street action to a
more constructive arena.

CSOs should use a two-pronged strategy -- by reforming key
institutions and creating a stronger demand for reform. The first
strategy is seen by many CSOs as controversial and is often
labeled as a developmentalist approach. However this reform
should be done delicately -- CSOs should assist the state sector
in reforming while at the same time maintaining their
independence and integrity.

There are a growing number of CSOs now working together with
state institutions. Transparency International Indonesia and the
Partnership are now working together with several kabupaten
(district) governments in combating corruption.

The Indonesia Corruption Watch is also assisting the Ministry
of Forestry in restructuring its HPH (concession) allocation. By
starting with a small-scale project and working with committed
state institutions it will lead to the establishment of an island
of integrity in this sea of dishonesty.

Furthermore, we can learn from the West Sumatra case on how
civil society with its many faces can successfully forge a
partnership with state institutions to fight corruption.

It began with a report filed by Forum Peduli Sumatra Barat
(FPSB) to the office of the Padang District Attorney regarding
corruption allegedly committed by provincial and local
legislators. This is a forum whose membership comprises civil
society organizations and community groups and is coordinated by
Saldi Isra, a lecturer at the Andalas University in Padang.

Different from other CSOs, the FPSB drew up a strategy whereby
it was involved at the community level and at the same time
engaged with law enforcement institutions to assist in
investigations.

This was done by the Center for Legal Research of the
University of Andalas (PKH Unand) headed by its Executive
Director Saldi Isra, who in cooperation with the Partnership
jointly organized a program entitled Developing an Ideal
Coordinated System and Optimized Functioning of Legal
Institutions in West Sumatra.

The program was preceded by a workshop to discuss various
problems involving coordination among law enforcement agencies in
West Sumatra. The workshop resulted in an agreement among law
enforcement institutions, including the state police,
prosecutors, judiciary, and lawyers, to work closer together with
PKH Unand on combating corruption.

A major result emanating from the workshop is the intensive
assistance provided by the PKH Unand team to the Padang District
Attorney in drawing up the prosecution strategy for the
corruption cases in the Provincial legislative council (DPRD-I),
as filed by the Forum Peduli Sumatra Barat (FPSB).

The Unand assistance team also actively provided input to the
panel of judges so that their legal considerations would meet the
people's sense of justice, with a full consideration of judicial
independence.

This corruption case was the first whereby a large number of
provincial legislators were successfully convicted in a court of
law and has now become a precedent to be emulated by District
Attorneys throughout Indonesia.

From this accomplishment, it can be concluded that a
successful corruption reform should employ a partnership
strategy. Using this strategy, anticorruption activists can
actively arrange, help implement and monitor the rules of the
game in the state sector, while at the same time empower the
public at large.

The writer is the program manager of the Partnership for
Governance Reform group in Indonesia.