Megawati urged to fire corrupt officials

Megawati urged to fire corrupt officials

JAKARTA: Nicalaus Pira Bunga, a law expert at the state-run Nusa Cendana University in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, called on President Megawati Soekarnoputri to rid her government of former senior New Order officials.

"The government and the bureaucracy will never get better from the chronic disease of corruption and collusion unless all officials inherited from the former New Order regime are replaced because despite the president's recent challenge, they won't do it themselves," he said in Kupang on Friday.

The president recently called on officials to step down if they were unable to do their job and stop corrupt practices in their own work environment.

Megawati said that she had good coordination with her ministers but such decisions were not implemented well by senior officials in the bureaucracy.

Nicolaus said the reform had yet to touch the bureaucracy and the corrupt and collusive practice were still prevalent.

"Whoever leads the nation, the government will never be effective under such a poor and corrupt bureaucratic condition," he said. -- Antara