Teten keeps the candle burning

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Teten Masduki believes that if someone lights a candle to show the way in the dark, others will follow.

Teten firmly holds onto this wisdom as he leads the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) that he and his fellow Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH) activists founded on June 21, 1998.

He said: "When everybody was in the dark about how to deal with the widespread corruption, I lit a candle in the hope that others would follow suit."

Probably the most respected non-governmental organization (NGO) to focus on building public awareness about the evils of corruption, ICW came into being a month after the fall of strongman Soeharto in 1998.

Teten was named the coordinator on other activists' beliefs that he was the most courageous person to take the risk of impending lawsuits, physical intimidation and even murder threats.

Teten acknowledges he was practically a layman in the anticorruption movement he tried to pioneer but he became increasingly confident after he learned from the experiences of other countries, such as the Philippines and Hong Kong.

ICW grew stronger with mounting public support. His office was flooded with reports of alleged corruption, but terror began to filter in, too.

"Terror is just a logical consequence of our movement," Teten calmly says.

In 1999, for example, after publicly disclosing the alleged illegal transfer of billions of rupiah reportedly involving Prayogo Pangestu of the Barito group and from The Ning King of Argo Manunggal to then attorney general Andi M. Ghalib, Teten claimed he was physically harassed and received death threats from people in Makassar, Ghalib's hometown.

But Teten's daring move bore fruit. Then president B.J. Habibie suspended Ghalib, who has never been reinstalled and the case has never been heard in court.

ICW's reputation has inspired activists to form their own version of a corruption watch at regional levels, such as the South Sumatra Corruption Watch, the West Java Corruption Watch, the Bali Corruption Watch and so forth.

Teten says he is glad that people in the regions have eventually lit more candles to find the way in fighting corruption.

Despite the government's exposition of major corruption cases involving big businesses and senior state officials, Teten humbly admits that his campaign to fight corruption has not brought about significant results. He says corruption remains widespread and people in powerful positions will indulge in it if they have the chance.

Teten is among those who are unhappy with the government's Release and Discharge (R&D) scheme that exonerates bank owners from their past banking crimes, the secretive divestment process of state-owned telecommunications firm PT Indosat and rampant bribery of the House of Representatives members.

Teten and his friends have been collecting people's signatures from across the country to reject the R&D policy, and threatening to file a class action against the government.

"In the Soeharto era, corruption involved the political elite of Soeharto's circle, but now well-placed people from any political party can take part in corruption without showing any shame.

"This sometimes makes me sad, because I feel I have failed to do my job, but I realize that I need allies in the anticorruption movement. I promise I will keep up the fight."

Dismayed by the lack of political will from politicians in the government and at the House of Representatives to combat corruption, Teten is focusing his efforts on establishing a network in civil society to strengthen the anticorruption movement.

This year, Teten's ICW has started a campaign to persuade social organizations, such as Nadhlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, labor unions, farmer unions and other organizations, to get involved in the anticorruption movement.

"The drive aims at putting greater pressure on the government and the House to seriously combat corruption. To date, there's been only public pressure to make those in power listen," he says.

ICW also encourages people to keep an eye on local administrations' budget-making and their implementation of development projects.

It has provided watchdog training to activists in West Java, Central Java, East Java and North Sumatra, several regencies in Aceh, Pontianak, Samarinda, Kupang and several regencies in West Nusa Tenggara.

Looking back, Teten -- who was born in Garut, West Java, on May 6, 1963 -- has been surprised that ICW has become as powerful as it is.

When in high school, a teacher inspired him to follow that same career path, and he pursued his bachelor's degree at the state Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) in Bandung, majoring in mathematics and chemistry.

He was admitted to IKIP Bandung in 1983 without having to take a test as a reward for his excellent scholastic performance through high school.

It was at IKIP that Teten joined an underground student movement and learned about the country's poor condition under the rule of then president Soeharto.

"That's when I learned about the many ideologies in the world," he says.

After he graduated from IKIP in 1987, Teten went on to teach at a high school in Tangerang, but he quit after a while and joined the Institute of Human Rights Information and Studies (Insan) in 1988.

In 1989, he lead the Merdeka Setia Kawan Labor Union as well as the Workers Solidarity Forum.

He saw a sharp rise in his career when he joined the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) in 1990. There he honed his knowledge and skills with a number of leading legal experts, such as Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, who is currently the chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Mulyana W. Kusumah, a member of the General Elections Commission.

Teten held a post as the labor division head at YLBHI. In addition, he had a chance to develop an international network by going abroad.

At YLBHI, Teten learned that corruption in the form of "invisible costs" had inflated production costs as much as 30 percent, compared to labor costs of only 4 percent to 11 percent.

He concluded that corruption was indeed the biggest problem of this country and was largely to blame for high costs, distrust, injustice and poverty.

More and more people have lit a candle and this has convinced him that the road ahead to ending corruption is looking brighter.