Responses to graft survey show depth of problem

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Last week, Transparency International Indonesia (TII), announced the findings of a survey it conducted on corruption in the country. Todung Mulya Lubis, a member of TII's board of directors, discussed these with The Jakarta Post's Tony Hotland.

Question: The Transparency International Indonesia (TII) survey has produced indifferent responses from those whose names or institutions appeared on the roll of shame. How do you see this?

Answer: Frankly, I'm very confused why these government officials are so easily offended. The TII survey shows the business community's perceptions of corrupt areas in Indonesia. The results show that Jakarta is perceived as the most corrupt city in this country. I am aware that this finding makes a lot of sense as Jakarta and other areas perceived as corrupt like Medan and Surabaya are centers of industry and trade. But that is no excuse for taking the survey's findings for granted.

The survey should serve as a reference for these administrations in increasing internal reform with a view to creating clean governance. Their responses, however, have been negative instead of taking on board the main point, which is that the business community still sees corruption as a systemic, endemic and widespread practice here despite much-hyped anticorruption campaigns by the government. Their responses are definitely not in line with the commitment of the new government to eradicating corruption and accepting criticism and input graciously. This survey confirms the Transparency International annual survey, which places Indonesia as the fifth most corrupt country in the world. We are making efforts to revive and bring in new investment here, but if this kind of survey is responded to in this way, the omens are not promising for progress.

The survey shows that bribery is also partly due to the willingness of those in the business community to offer bribes to government officials. Do you see the current situation as a double-edged sword?

It is sad to see that the respondents, 90 percent of which are local businesspeople, have an ambivalent stance about corrupt practices such as bribery. On one hand they support good governance, but on the other hand many of them voluntarily offer bribes, whether simply to show gratitude or to win contracts. Those who do so are likely those with smaller businesses who feel that they have to offer bribes so as to be able to compete with the big boys. Not a few businesspeople also include bribe money as part of their costs as they feel that bribes will be necessary and they will have to compromise even though they know it is the wrong thing to do.

Given the rotten system we have here, it is up to the business community to show more support for clean governance by refusing to offer and pay bribes, and demonstrating zero tolerance for corruption in any form. It is part of their responsibilities to create clean governance. One simple instance, they must pay their taxes honestly instead of "playing dirty" with officials to evade tax. It's their obligation. How about the governance system here? You specifically quoted a respondent as saying that "the system is such that you cannot avoid corruption".

It is indeed a very dangerous kind of apathy that perhaps many people, including those in business, have in their heads about our administration system. That's why the government has launched a major anticorruption campaign to reform the institutions and the personnel, and should stick to it come what may. The legislation and regulations mandating a transparent and accountable system are already in place, so it's just a matter of implementation and political will.

Given these kinds of perception about our system, over half of the respondents are content to rely on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to solve this deeply-rooted problem. It is the legal institutions, like the judiciary and public prosecution service, that need to be reformed instead of simply increasing the salaries of civil servants. Having a high salary does not automatically mean you will refuse a bribe.

What is TII doing to help reform the system?

We have a number of programs to put accountable and transparent systems in place in the regions. We've been assisting the Tanah Datar administration in running their administration. They signed what we call an Integrity Pact. For example, we're assisting them in implementing legislation in an accountable manner, like the presidential regulation on public procurement, and then we adapt the system to local conditions and the available resources. The regent of Tangerang has also called me to help them with the implementation of the same pact. We dream of creating islands of integrity that stand tall amid a sea of corruption.

Next year, we also expect to survey more areas, perhaps up to 40 compared to the 21 cities/regencies currently surveyed. And we also plan to conduct surveys on other aspects of corruption other than the bribery index and service satisfaction index.