KPK urges reform in bureaucracy
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) urged the government on Friday to speed up the reform drive in the country's bureaucracy to stop civil servants from charging illegal fees.
In a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, KPK chairman Taufiequrrahman Ruki and KPK senior member Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas made several recommendations on ways in which the government could reform the bureaucracy.
"It is better to prevent extortion from occurring than to prosecute (people) for it, because the KPK and other law enforcers are currently facing limited resources to investigate and litigate corruption cases," Taufiequrrahman said.
Among the recommendations put forward by the KPK were ways to increase civil servants' salaries so they were closer to KPK officials' basic salaries of between Rp 700,000 (US$72) and Rp 42 million a month.
KPK officials are also given housing, health and transportation allowances.
At present, the lowest salary for a civil servant is about Rp 500,000 for a university graduate, and the highest is about Rp 7 million for an echelon I official or for a four-star military or police general.
Raising civil servants' salaries by just Rp 100,000 would cost the government more than Rp 10 trillion a year.
Widespread corruption in the country has often been blamed on civil servants' low salaries.
Taufiequrrahman said to reduce red tape and wipe out the practice of seeking illegal fees, the government needed to issue guidelines on the issuance of documents and licenses by public servants.
The guidelines would specify the requirements, cost and processing time for the completion of each document.
Erry advised that civil servants who failed to comply with the guidelines be sanctioned.
"This system would encourage them to work harder and with seriousness. It would also prevent them from collecting illegal fees," said Erry.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged when he took power last year to fight corruption. Nine months have passed, yet the public has seen little improvement in civil servants' behavior.
Bureaucrats in the immigration office, religious affairs ministry, police and subdistrict offices continue to extort money from the people.
"Our recommendations are not an appeal to the government. The government has an obligation, which it should immediately fulfill, or efforts to combat corruption and save state money will not be optimized," said Erry.