NGO alleges corruption of education fund

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A non-governmental organization demanded on Wednesday that the city administration impose sanctions on the primary education division of the city education agency for alleged corruption causing the state to suffer more than Rp 3.5 billion in losses.

"Based on our independent research into the publishing of physics and biology textbooks for junior high schools and Islamic junior high schools, we have found evidence of corruption in the tenders," said Saidin Yusuf, chairman of the Education Care Foundation (P2B)

Saidin said his NGO had discovered that the primary education division had been marking up the prices for the publishing of the textbooks since 2000.

"The tenders are unreasonable as the market rate is between Rp 18 and Rp 22 per page, while the winner of the tender was paid Rp 47 per page," said Saidin after a meeting with the social welfare assistant to the city secretary, Ahmad Hariadi, and the head of the city social disturbance monitoring center, Raya Siahaan, who met the group on behalf of Governor Sutiyoso.

Due to the markups, Saidin said his group estimated that the state had suffered more than Rp 3.5 billion in losses.

Saidin told reporters that his group had also found that the tenders conducted by the city primary education division were only intended to cover up corruption as most participants in the tenders were fictitious publishing firms.

"We have conducted some cross-checks on these participants and found out that most of them were fictitious companies which have no offices, just names," said Saidin.

Saidin said his NGO had also reported the case to the Jakarta Police's anticorruption section and the Jakarta Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday.

"They, both the police and prosecutors, have vowed to process the report and to take legal action in the near future," said Saidin.

Saidin revealed that since his NGO had first discovered such practices in 2000, they had frequently reported the irregularities to the city administration but thus far there had been no follow-up undertaken.

"We would urge the administration to follow up on this case immediately and not turn a blind eye to such violations. Such corruption will only further increase the already high cost of the education that must be paid for by our children," Saidin said.

Ahmad Hariadi promised to follow up on the report. However, he failed to explain what measures would be taken by the administration.

"I cannot respond to the case immediately as I must discuss the matter first with the respective institutions, including the City Audit Board. But, I promise the case won't be closed," he said.

It has long been an open secret that city officials often conduct tenders secretively, and that they conspire with tender participants, as well as winners. But so far no action has been taken to stop such practices.