The Anti-corruption campaign

The Anti-corruption campaign

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