‘Paralysis’ is price to end Jakarta graft
Indonesians will have to accept up to 15 years of policy “paralysis” if they want to defeat what is widely regarded as the country’s endemic public sector corruption, the country’s senior graft investigator has stated.
Antasari Azhar, the chairman of KPK, the independent anti-corruption commission, told the Financial Times that many officials regard his organisation as a “monster” but that creating such a climate of fear in the bureaucracy so that officials are too afraid to do their jobs was a price worth paying for clean government.
Under the former dictator Suharto, who was toppled in 1998, and for several years after that, organisations such as Transparency International ranked Indonesia as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. The independent KPK was created in 2003 as part of the nation’s reform movement and soon started to make progress.
But its reputation has soared since Mr Antasari, who took charge last December, started targeting institutions previously regarded as above the law. “He’s not hesitating to go after people that were once considered taboo for law enforcers to touch,” said Zaenal Mochtar, the head of an anti-corruption research centre at Gadjah Mada University. Mr Antisari was in charge of prosecuting Suharto in a trial that never started because of the former strongman’s ill-health.
The central bank governor is on trial for corruption. A senior prosecutor was jailed for 20 years for graft this month and a former police chief has also been convicted. Half a dozen sitting legislators have been detained for allegedly taking bribes and serving ministers are being investigated in an unprecedented way.
That is all in addition to dozens of more junior officials and regional level administrators being convicted in the corruption court, which has not acquitted a defendant in its three-year existence.
In what will be the most significant litmus test of Mr Antasari’s credibility, the former prosecutor said it would be “only a matter of time” before the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s son, a retired central bank official, was charged.
“If people say it’s bad that there’s paralysis [in government] because people are afraid, that doesn’t matter,” said Mr Antasari. “I am optimistic that in the long term if we start with fear we will instill compliance.”
By taking on Bank Indonesia, Mr Antasari hopes to accelerate reform in the banking sector, by targeting a senior prosecutor he hopes the effects will ripple through the law enforcement sector and likewise with his investigations of legislators.
● Mohammad Iqbal, an official at the antitrust body, has been revealed as a suspect in a case involving broadcast rights after allegedly being caught receiving 500m rupiah ($53,160) from a businessman at a luxury hotel. The head of Indonesia Corruption Watch described the scandal as a “complete disappointment”.
Antasari Azhar, the chairman of KPK, the independent anti-corruption commission, told the Financial Times that many officials regard his organisation as a “monster” but that creating such a climate of fear in the bureaucracy so that officials are too afraid to do their jobs was a price worth paying for clean government.
Under the former dictator Suharto, who was toppled in 1998, and for several years after that, organisations such as Transparency International ranked Indonesia as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. The independent KPK was created in 2003 as part of the nation’s reform movement and soon started to make progress.
But its reputation has soared since Mr Antasari, who took charge last December, started targeting institutions previously regarded as above the law. “He’s not hesitating to go after people that were once considered taboo for law enforcers to touch,” said Zaenal Mochtar, the head of an anti-corruption research centre at Gadjah Mada University. Mr Antisari was in charge of prosecuting Suharto in a trial that never started because of the former strongman’s ill-health.
The central bank governor is on trial for corruption. A senior prosecutor was jailed for 20 years for graft this month and a former police chief has also been convicted. Half a dozen sitting legislators have been detained for allegedly taking bribes and serving ministers are being investigated in an unprecedented way.
That is all in addition to dozens of more junior officials and regional level administrators being convicted in the corruption court, which has not acquitted a defendant in its three-year existence.
In what will be the most significant litmus test of Mr Antasari’s credibility, the former prosecutor said it would be “only a matter of time” before the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s son, a retired central bank official, was charged.
“If people say it’s bad that there’s paralysis [in government] because people are afraid, that doesn’t matter,” said Mr Antasari. “I am optimistic that in the long term if we start with fear we will instill compliance.”
By taking on Bank Indonesia, Mr Antasari hopes to accelerate reform in the banking sector, by targeting a senior prosecutor he hopes the effects will ripple through the law enforcement sector and likewise with his investigations of legislators.
● Mohammad Iqbal, an official at the antitrust body, has been revealed as a suspect in a case involving broadcast rights after allegedly being caught receiving 500m rupiah ($53,160) from a businessman at a luxury hotel. The head of Indonesia Corruption Watch described the scandal as a “complete disappointment”.