Susilo's anticorruption drive disappointing: KPK

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eleven months after taking over the presidency, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledges to curb corruption within government agencies, particularly the tax and customs services, have not being realized, according to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"The commission is very disappointed with the government's efforts to prevent corruption. Its efforts and its determination have yet to show progress," KPK Chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said after meeting the President on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to allow the KPK put forward its views and evaluation of the government's anticorruption drive, which was labeled by the commission as "very slow and lacking commitment from the President's aides".

Taufiqurrahman called on the government to speed up the anticorruption drive in the country's most corrupt institutions; the Directorate General of Taxation and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. Both institutions come under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance.

"There have been so much leakage from the tax and customs services as a result of collusion between taxpayers and officials. Our preliminary investigation shows that big fish corruptors are still sniffing at the doors of both services," he said.

A survey by Transparency International Indonesia in February revealed that customs service was the country's most corrupt institution.

The country has been relying on revenues from taxes and excise duties for the past five years to help finance government expenditure. This year's budget envisages 85 percent of revenues being contributed by taxes and excise duties.

Based on the budget, the government hopes to collect Rp 331.8 trillion (US$32.8 billion) in taxes and excise duties this year and some Rp 402.1 trillion next year.

Analysts believe that the government could net more than Rp 500 trillion in tax and excise revenue this year by improving tax collection administration and tackling corruption.

The KPK also emphasized the need for the government to reform the public procurement system as it found that leakage in this area often amounted to more than 30 percent of the procurement value.

"There has been no sign of seriousness from ministers, the heads of government agencies and state enterprise executives in preventing procurement leakage or securing revenue for the state," said Taufiqurrahman.

The KPK also highlighted a lack of coordination between the National Police and the Attorney General's Office in investigating and bringing prosecutions in corruption cases.

"Aside from poor coordination, the money allocated for processing corruption case in these two institutions is too low, about Rp 2.5 million per case. President Susilo should seriously address these problems," Taufiqurrahman said.

Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said Susilo acknowledged his anticorruption drive was still far from achieving its goal and promised to speed up the efforts.

"The President responds positively to the KPK input and expresses his dissatisfaction over the current anticorruption efforts of his aides. The government will intensify its efforts and remain consistent to its goals," he said.