RI still on list of most corrupt

RI still on list of most corrupt

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the country's efforts to combat corruption, Indonesia
remains one of the world's corrupt nations according to the
latest annual report from the Berlin-based Transparency
International (TI).

TI Indonesia announced on Tuesday that the country was among
the six most corrupt nations, along with Azerbaijan, Cameroon,
Ethiopia, Iraq, Liberia and Uzbekistan, out of 159 countries
surveyed.

Based on the perceptions of business leaders, academics,
antigraft activists and risk analysts across Indonesia, the
country's score was only 2.2 out of 10, with 10 being the least
corrupt nation.

This represents a slight improvement on last year's score of
2.0.

"However, the improvement was due to the fact that other
countries managed to improve their performances. There has also
been an increase in the number of countries surveyed, from 146
last year to 159 this year," said TI Indonesia executive and
human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis.

Among Southeast Asian nations, Indonesia is only better than
Myanmar (1.8). Even the scores of countries like Cambodia,
Vietnam and Laos are higher, with 2.3, 2.6 and 3.3 respectively.

Singapore is flying high at 9.4, making it the fifth least
corrupt country, while Malaysia ranks 39th with a score of 5.1.

Based on 13 surveys carried out across the country,
Indonesia's score since 1999 has ranged between 1.7 and 2.2,
which means that the so-called reform era has failed to do much
to eradicate corruption in the country.

Despite the work of the Corruption Eradication Commission
(KPK), corruption is still rampant, even within the judicial
system, with the most recent case involving the alleged bribery
of Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan and other justices of
the country's highest court.

Todung urged Bagir to temporarily step aside until the case
was investigated to avoid any obstruction of justice.

"If we manage to eliminate the 'judicial mafia', there would
at least be some hope of us improving on our corruption
perception index score. At least between 2.5 and 3.0 next year,"
he said.

Economist Faisal Basri said that if the country wanted to
improve its TI corruption index score, then it should start by
focusing on straightening out the sort of corrupt business
practices that had been hampering foreign investment.

"This index is part of an effort to ease business between
countries. Therefore, we should create a more investor-friendly
atmosphere. The business climate must be overhauled," Faisal told
the discussion following TI Indonesia's announcement.

According to The World Economic Forum (WEF), Indonesia is not
a good country to do business in as even to obtain a business
permit takes 151 days, while illegal fees, bribery and corruption
are all rampant.

Therefore, Faisal said, it would take hard work to clean up
areas related to business, permits and the legal system.

However, the country needed to move beyond creating a good
atmosphere for foreign investors.

"Although that would be beneficial for many people. But we
have to design a corruption eradication strategy that favors the
Indonesian population as a whole, to make the people more
prosperous."