Keep up the momentum

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