Publishers asks WB to clarify book fraud accusations

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Publishers here demanded on Thursday that the World Bank clarify its decision to blacklist several publishers and individuals for alleged fraud and corruption in the Book and Reading Development Project.

The World Bank declared on Tuesday in Washington that collusion had led to the procurement of inferior quality books in a schoolbook project here, and asked the Indonesian government to reimburse US$10 million of the some $53 million it disbursed for the project.

As many as 20 private and state publishers and 10 individuals have been barred from any new World Bank-financed contracts for allegedly engaging in fraud and corruption.

The secretary-general of the Indonesian Publishers Association, Robinson Rusdi, said on Thursday the World Bank was unfair in blacklisting some of the country's publishers without first providing evidence of their wrongdoing.

"The World Bank should have specifically stated the so-called fraudulent and corrupt practices and provided solid evidence before taking such an action, as is only fair for both parties," said Robinson.

He added that had there been "misconduct" in the project, the World Bank would not have approved the disbursement of the funds.

"In bidding on the project, the government followed the procedures set by the World Bank. It submitted a proposal, which was reviewed and approved by the World Bank. In this case, the World Bank disbursed the funds, which meant that all the standard procedures had been met," he said.

Once the government won the bid, it then announced plans to buy books from some of the country's state and private publishers, he said.

"The publishers then submitted to the government all the texts they wanted to publish. The texts were then reviewed by an independent team, appointed by the government, to determine whether their quality meet the national curriculum at that time," Robinson told The Jakarta Post.

He said that when the government approved and bought the texts, publishers then distributed them to government-selected schools across the country.

Lucia Andan Dewi, the director of publisher PT Bumi Aksara, agreed with Robinson, saying that publishers had done their part, and that the World Bank needed to clarify where the process allegedly went wrong.

"What basis did the World Bank use to blacklist some of the country's publishers?" Lucia asked.

Robinson said the World Bank needed to clarify its action.

"If necessary, it can take legal action to prove who is wrong, the publishers or the World Bank," he said.

The Ministry of National Education's director general of elementary and intermediate school affairs, Indra Djati Sidi, refused to comment on the matter.

The Book and Reading Development Project began in October 1995 and was implemented by the Ministry of National Education. It was partly funded by an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan valued at $132.5 million, which funded the purchase of textbooks for secondary schools.

The government disbursed $40 million from the state budget for the project. The project closed on Dec. 31, 2002, with some $53 million of the loan having been disbursed.

The last procurement of textbooks was canceled, and was followed by a World Bank investigation prompted by a report in weekly magazine Tempo that alleged fraud and corruption in the project.

The report suggested collusion by officials in the Ministry of National Education and publishers, resulting in poor quality schoolbooks being distributed across the country.