The anti-corruption campaign and the UNCAC

A number of politicians from the House of Representatives (DPR) have commented positively on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's declaration on Dec. 9 to crack down on corruption. One of them, Maiyasyak Johan, a member of the DPR's Commission III, came up with two proposals for Yudhoyono to immediately deal with the problem.

Firstly, arrest and bring big corruptors to justice who have amassed trillions of rupiah of people's money and taken it with them abroad; and secondly, bring those people to justice who allow corruptors to flee the country, as in the latest case of Sudjiono Timan (Rakyat Merdeka, Dec. 11). Yudhoyono's declaration of a national action plan against corruption, as the DPR politicians commented, gave good momentum to cure the nation from the disease of corruption, and deserved public support.

However, the government and politicians somehow stopped short of using an already declared treaty of Dec. 9, 2003, i.e., the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), that helps member states crack down on corruptors fleeing abroad. They seem to have forgotten that prior to signing the convention, the government requested the DPR to deliberate and ratify it, which they have not yet done.

Aside from the ratification of UNCAC, there is another important element that helps uncover corruption that the DPR has yet to deliberate, i.e., the bill on the protection of whistle- blowers. This bill is badly needed as whistle-blowers are in danger whenever they reveal corrupt practices committed by state officials.

One instance of a whistle-blower being persecuted as the case of Kito Irkhamni, an official of the Attorney General's Office who is now in jail for an unrelated matter, who revealed the then Attorney General M.A. Rachman's controversial house in Graha Cinere, Depok.

We should learn from South Korea's law on the protection of whistle-blowers, which besides guaranteeing their safety protecting their identities, also provides rewards if their reports prove to be true.

The war drums against corruption are being beaten by the government, and all elements of society, including the DPR, have lent their support. We now need the DPR to speedily deliberate the ratification of the UNCAC, and enact a law for the protection of whistle-blowers, as the success of the action plan depends very much on this.

M. RUSDI Jakarta