'Reformasi' should deal with corruptors

A'an Suryana and Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A businessman once shared with an acquaintance his frustration and confusion in doing business in the democratic, but corrupt climate of Indonesia.

"Before reformasi (reform), you knew the price (of corruption), whom to pay and what you got from (doing it).

"Nowadays, you never know the price, whom to pay and whether you will get it in the end," said the businessman.

His statement clearly reflects the current corruption problem in Indonesia.

The reform movement started in May 1998 with one of its agenda being the eradication of corruption; however, corruption is not decreasing. Instead, it's on the rise.

International surveys, including those by Transparency International, show that corruption in the country is becoming more severe, making Indonesia one of the world's most corrupt countries.

Indonesia was ranked 88th out of 91 countries surveyed by Transparency International, coming in just above Uganda, Nigeria and Bangladesh, with the lowest place reserved for the most corrupt country. In 2000, Indonesia placed 85th on the list.

Under former president Soeharto's rule, corruption was allegedly confined to Soeharto's inner circle.

Now, however, corruption is widespread, affecting more people and more areas in the country.

"Not only President Megawati (Soekarnoputri), but the House of Representatives and regional governments are currently not free of the allurement of corruption," Teten Masduki, the coordinator of the Indonesian Corruption Watch, told The Jakarta Post.

"The only positive thing to come out of the reform movement has been that we have a strong watchdog for corruption -- the free media," he added.

The gloomy face of the state of corruption in this country should be of great concern to the public.

While the reform movement is under way, corruption should have been the first target of reform as it poses the most danger in almost every aspect of people's lives.

In the economic sector, corruption comes at a high cost to the economy, in which the public would certainly bear the losses.

Under a corrupt system, business communities are forced to allocate parts of their production funds to bribe government officials at the expense of the public, who are later forced to pay higher prices for goods and services.

"Companies are in a weak position because they must either follow the system or they'll never be allowed to operate in the market," said Indra Ibrahim, the chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association.

In addition, corruption brings adverse effects to the social and political sectors.

According to Teten, the majority of the public do not have access to a proper share of the country's economic resources under a corrupt regime, since those funds would fall only to the haves and those who are in power.

Corruption would eventually aggravate the widening gap between the haves and the poor.

In politics, the soaring use of political money would also hamper the development of democracy, which would eventually pose a serious threat to the continuing reform movement, Teten added.

Judging from the dangers of corruption, corruptors must be punished severely to deter new corrupt practices, said political observer Daniel Sparingga and lawyer Kamal Firdaus.

Daniel, a lecturer at Airlangga University in Surabaya, and Kamal, the chairman of the Indonesian Court Monitoring, said that the court should impose the stiffest sentence, such as the death penalty, for those who are convicted of corruption.

"This would help deter people from committing corruption in the future," said Daniel.

To insure that justice is established, Kamal said the reform movement should first of all touch on the corrupt legal system.

"Corrupt prosecutors, judges, police and lawyers must be dealt with first to create a credible, clean and respected legal system," said Kamal.