Keep up the momentum

The Attorney General's Office has begun to summon business tycoons and executives suspected of having misused state money. Bank owners and directors thus far known as successful entrepreneurs have been brought before law enforcement officers.

The Habibie administration is working to maintain momentum in efforts to eradicate corruption and is trying hard to ensure that these efforts are not perceived as being mere formalities without substance.

We must however remind the authorities that corruption in Indonesia has long been a structural affliction. Like poverty, it has become firmly established and grown deep roots.

Since corruption here is a structural condition, fighting it demands great courage and honesty on the part of both those who are being investigated and charged and those who conduct the investigations and make the charges. The difficulty is that both sides belonged to the same regime.

In order to keep up momentum in the drive to eradicate corruption, investigations should not be limited to businesspeople but should be expanded to include government officials from the past and the present. People should be suspicious if government officials owns palatial houses, posh cars and other symbols of extravagant wealth.

-- Media Indonesia