The corruptors just don't realize the severe damage they are doing

The corruptors just don't realize the severe damage they are doing

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta

It is, of course, both gratifying and encouraging to see some
tough jail sentences imposed upon a few recently convicted
criminals. The two former BRI branch heads who were convicted of
embezzling over Rp 200 billion, much of which was public money,
have been given sizable fines, an order to repay some of the
stolen funds and a total of 24 years in prison between them. The
punishments seem apt given the depth of the perfidy required of
people in positions of trust to steal that much money from the
people of a desperately poor country.

Of course their lawyers say they will appeal. Their clients
naturally don't want to spend any time behind bars and they sure
dont want to return any of the money they stole. Nobody is
denying that these thieves committed the crimes they were
convicted of; that they actually were responsible for the theft
of such vast amounts of the peoples' desperately needed money is
beyond question. But appeal, they will.

"The masterminds behind all of this were Yudi Kartolo and
Hartono Tjahjadjaja. My client was used by Yudi. My client did
not receive the money," the lawyer said (The Jakarta Post June
29, 2004). Based on that questionable assertion, the thieves
apparently feel that they should be treated more leniently by the
people whom they willingly impoverished in an attempt to enrich
themselves beyond the wildest dreams of avarice of the average
Indonesian.

Any moral person must feel sickened at that contemptible
rationalization. Let us pretend for a moment that we accept these
dubious assertions at face value. Are we supposed to feel
sympathy for the human scum that willingly participated in a
conspiracy to make themselves obscenely wealthy, at the expense
of those who earned their money honestly, simply because they
didn't get their cut?

Are we being asked to believe that men of their status, at
their level of seniority and with their experience were led
astray by some fast talking con artists? If the answer is yes, we
have to laugh at them for their gullibility as well as despise
them for their theft.

If the answer is no, we have to hold them in utter contempt
for their lies and their betrayal of trust. But, either way, as
sure as hell exists for their likes, we don't have to give them
lighter sentences.

But, I can already hear the apologists crying, embezzlement
and corruption in high places is a way of life in Indonesia; what
they did is what most high ranking officials in positions of
trust do every day. Indeed. It is for precisely that reason that
any appeal of the sentences should be rejected outright.

Because corruption is so endemic, it needs to be dealt with
extraordinarily harshly. The kind of venality that is represented
by these worthless dregs of humanity is what is holding this
country back from taking her rightful place among the truly
mature nations of the developed world.

Their personal greed and their contempt for Indonesia and
Indonesians doesn't just destroy the lives of those from whom
they directly stole, it has a very real impact on the lives of
everybody in this country.

Because of them and other thieves like them, this country
suffers under a well deserved reputation as one of the most
corrupt places on Earth. Because of them and their fellow
bandits, honest businesses and corporations used to dealing with
people of integrity shun Indonesia as a pariah among nations.
Because of those bottom feeders, the Indonesian economy has run
into a stone wall in its road to recovery.

The desperate, grinding poverty that affects such an enormous
number of Indonesians can be directly attributed to the actions
of these outlaws who will now plead for clemency because they
claim that their co-conspirators didn't pay them their share of
the proceeds of their theft.

What is so disconcerting about the results of the trial is not
the outcome; the convictions and sentences are refreshingly
appropriate. The appalling fact is that the criminals themselves
just don't seem to get it.

They have been caught doing something completely
reprehensible, they have stolen from those who placed them in
positions of trust, they have caused untold harm to countless
people and they have treated their employers, their clients and
their fellow Indonesians with utter contempt in a sordid racket
to make themselves wealthy. And yet they still seem to feel as
though they are entitled to our sympathy.

The writer, social and political commentator, can be reached
at ttpguntensperger@hotmail.com