RI urged to seriously combat corruption

RI urged to seriously combat corruption

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Foreign creditors grouped in the Consultative Group for Indonesia
(CGI) have reiterated their calls for the government to intensify
measures to fight corruption and curb illegal logging, in a bid
to restore their confidence in the country.

The call was made during the last day of the two-day CGI
meeting here on Thursday, with creditors pledging to hand over a
total of US$3.4 billion in new loans and grants.

According to Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh, most
creditor countries grilled the government over what they consider
to be poor handling of the efforts to eliminate corruption by
state officials.

"They asked about our commitment to combat corruption and
illegal logging, which often involves key state officials," he
said after the meeting.

The creditors, he added, asked if the government was serious
in establishing special commissions to supervise the performance
of police and prosecutors, and prevent them from conspiring with
white-collar thieves and embezzlers.

The absence of sufficient independent supervision has led to
these two institutions -- supposedly the front-runners in the
campaign against corruption -- to regularly abuse their
authority.

"Creditors also questioned the government's time frame in
setting up the commissions, as they would be very helpful in
'cleaning out' corrupt law enforcers. We told them that the
establishment (of these commissions) would be done soon," Abdul
said.

Corrupt practices are common in Indonesia -- the country is
one of the most corrupt in the world -- and have flourished for
decades at almost every level of government, without signs of
abating. It has caused business costs to soar and made the
country economically less competitive.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) estimate that up to 30
percent of the country's foreign loans are embezzled by state
officials.

Meanwhile, H.S. Dillon, executive director for Partnership for
Governance Reform in Indonesia, said at the meeting that most
creditors were urging the government to set a deadline for
fighting corruption so that they could clearly measure the
government's performance in this matter.

"Creditors said that the government needed to put more effort
into anti-graft drives, despite forming the Corruption
Eradication Commission (KPK). Creditors' confidence in the
country will decline unless such issues are resolved," he said.

Neither Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Aburizal
Bakrie, nor State Minister of National Development
Planning/National Development Planning Board chairwoman, Sri
Mulyani Indrawati, acknowledged corruption as the most important
issue raised by creditors during the meeting.

"There are no conditions or terms set by creditors for the
loans and grants because they are confident that we can eliminate
corruption based on our five-year development programs," Mulyani
said.

Creditors also urged the government to be serious in its
efforts to alleviate poverty and to narrow the gap between the
nation's rich and poor in both urban and rural areas,
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said.

Aside from that, creditors requested that the government
intensify its campaign to reduce mortality resulting from poor
public services and malnutrition.

Creditor countries also want the government to reform the
security environment by providing police with adequate equipment
and skills, said Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and
Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto.