RI under pressure over corruption
RI under pressure over corruption
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A United Nations official warned on Thursday that Indonesia
must take serious action against corruption otherwise the country
would have to face the possibility of concerted measures being
taken by the international community.
Deputy Director of the United Nations Center for International
Crime Prevention (UN-CICP), Jan Van Dijk, said that under the UN
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, corruption was
an international crime in respect of which the international
community could exert pressure with the goal of corruption
eradication.
Article 8 of the convention stipulates that all countries in
the world should take concerted action to curb corruption.
Indonesia was among the first countries to sign the
convention, and is now taking part in talks on a new UN
convention on the retrieval of corruption-generated assets.
"Indonesia must allow the international community to take a
look at what has been done in the fight against corruption," Van
Dijk said, adding that corruption was a crime that had damaged
the economies of many developing countries.
The House of Representatives, however, has yet to ratify the
convention.
National Legal Reform Agency chief Romli Atmasasmita said now
that Indonesia had signed the convention, it must take resolute
action to curb rampant corruption.
"Under the convention, Indonesia is required to submit a
progress report to the UN pertaining to the eradication of
corruption," Romli said adding that the international community
was keeping a watchful eye on Indonesia's anticorruption
campaign.
The Berlin-based corruption watchdog, Transparency
International, ranks Indonesia as having being among the most
corrupt countries in the world over the past few years.
Romli said that should Indonesia fail to submit an acceptable
report, the country would face the possibility of UN sanctions.
"If we fail to make significant progress in dealing with
corruption, we will have no way of recovering fraudulently
obtained assets kept in foreign banks," Romli said.
Indonesia enacted an antigraft law in 1999, but enforcement of
the legislation has been weak to say the least.
The United Nations itself has joined hands with the Indonesian
government in an effort to combat unbridled corruption.
"We will embark on a program called "Judicial Integrity" to
promote fair proceedings in the courts," Van Dijk remarked.
He said that the program was aimed at improving the integrity
of judges as it was public knowledge that the judicial system
here was rotten to the core.