Local govts 'should be probed for corruption'

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

A political expert and an anticorruption activist said Saturday that heads of local government administrations may also be involved in the recent spate of corruption cases committed by local legislative members.

They called for an investigation into the governors and regents as well as mayors in the areas where the legislators had been charged or sentenced in corruption cases.

"It is very possible that corruption committed by legislature members at the local level also involved governors or regents or mayors," political analyst Andi Mallarangeng told the Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said that if those in the administration were not investigated, state prosecutors were actually not being serious in combating corruption at the local level.

Over 250 legislators across the country have been charged with corruption, with dozens found guilty.

In West Sumatra, three leaders of the provincial legislative council - Arwan Kasri, Hasmerti Oktini, Masfar Rasyid - were found guilty of corruption involving Rp 6.48 billion of the taxpayers' money.

They were sentenced to 27 months in prison and fined Rp 100 million each.

Prosecutors and police investigators are currently looking into corruption cases against local legislators Banda Aceh in troubled province Aceh, Garut in West Java, Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Bandar Lampung in Lampung.

Andi went on to say that corruption committed by legislators indicated that political parties that got enough votes in 1999 had chosen the wrong people to be representatives.

"Those legislators had no intention of working for the people's interests, only their own," he said.

He added that poor supervision at the local level, particularly during the autonomy era, had further increased the possibility for those in power to commit corruption.

"All the auditing agencies are toothless," he said.

Anung Karyadi of Transparency International (TI) Indonesia concurred with Andi.

"The widespread corruption is the result of a broader problem in the legislature and ineffective supervision," he said.

"But legislators can't commit corruption alone, they must have partners in the regional administrations to do so."

Andi expected that new legislators in the 2004-2009 period would seriously improve their image in combating corruption.

Supervision from the central government and local administration must be made effective to help save the people's funds from being stolen, he said.

A commitment from the president to eradicate corruption should also be implemented in a real way, he added.

Meanwhile, Anung said the death sentence against major corrupters might be the best thing for this country as the shock therapy might teach people that it is wrong to steal.

"Most of the action we've taken against corruption just does not work and it frustrates people, we should try the death penalty against corrupters," he said.

Several cases probed by Attorney General's Office in 2004

Province/     mount losses     councillors

regency/city   (in rupiah) 
involved

========================================

West Sumatra      6.4 billion         3 

Bandar Lampung    3.7 billion          3

Payah Kumbuh      6   billion         24

Garut             6.6 billion         45

Cirebon           997 million         30

Batam             2.1 billion         10

Banda Aceh        5.7 billion          7

Pontianak         4.7 billion          3

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