The human face of corruption's victims
Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta
There is a natural inclination among those of us who love Indonesia to downplay the seriousness of corruption, Indonesia's single biggest problem. We try to see the cultural climate of corruption as being a remnant of the tradition of showing respect in the form of "tributes" or "tips" to public officials who do something for us.
We simply hand over the gratuities to government officials who expect or demand them because it has become routine. We are not surprised, let alone shocked or offended when we pay surcharges to civil servants for driver's licenses, building permits, burial permits, ID cards, passports, working documents or any of the thousands of other routine details of governmental red tape. We shrug and say, "That's Indonesia".
But that's just not good enough. Ridwan Max Sijabat wrote a penetrating and frightening article (The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004) on the subject of the appalling traffic in human beings that is disguised as services for Indonesian overseas workers. One need only consider some of the facts he brings to our attention to see that at the root of this evil is the same old Indonesian curse: Corruption.
A great number of Indonesians dream of a better life and are willing to travel across the world and work hard to earn enough money for their families to escape from poverty. Many of them are victimized by peddlers in human flesh. And those who fall victim to them often do so because corrupt practices within Indonesia prevent them from obtaining documents, permits and services to which they are legally entitled.
The civil servants' demands for bribes puts simple documentation out of reach and their insatiable greed for graft denies our poorest citizens that which is rightfully theirs and consigns them to the clutches of those modern-day slave traders.
According to the research most Indonesian migrant workers are illegal. And they are illegal because they are denied their rights as citizens of a democratic nation by corrupt government officials. The corruption at the document issuing level of government here in Indonesia is so completely pervasive that it would be almost impossible to find a an example of someone who paid only what the law requires for standard documentation.
Unless they have connections or influence, everyone must pay a bribe to obtain a passport or other routine document. There is no need in Indonesia to go looking for corrupt practices in government offices. You can't walk across the floor of an office without being solicited for a bribe. And this corruption causes misery and even death.
The untold suffering of millions of Indonesian citizens is directly attributable to the lust for lucre and the absolute impunity with which graft is demanded. Minor government officials betray their country, their neighbors, their employers and moral law every day in every government office. But more to the point, they cause anguish and suffering for the absolute purest of motives; simple greed.
It is no longer acceptable to whitewash the evil that is corruption. To put it down to a minor irritation or to dismiss it as tradition or to turn a blind eye to it as an insignificant cultural idiosyncrasy is not an option at this stage in Indonesia's history. Corruption of this magnitude, of this depth and breadth, is killing people is and it destroying this country.
When hundreds of thousands of citizens of a nation are denied their rights by the rapacious greed of government employees and they are effectively sold into slavery because of that avarice, the problem can no longer be dismissed by the shrug and "That's Indonesia," response. The suffering is obvious; it is there for everyone to see. A leader that denies it or even downplays it is lying and is part of the problem.
It is easy to find occasions of criminal corruption at the civil service; indeed it is nearly impossible to move through the corridors of any government department without seeing a half a dozen examples each hour. If these are not prosecuted, it is because the senior people not only tolerate it but encourage it and profit from it.
We have a new government in Indonesia. Is this new government capable of seeing the suffering in the faces of the people of this country? Is this new government comfortable with that sight? We shall see. Corruption is not easily eradicated, but it is extraordinarily easily found here.
If we don't see immediate energetic prosecution of hundreds of low level graft cases in the first hundred days of the mandate, I am very much afraid that we will be seeing business as usual in Indonesia. And business as usual is enriching some while causing vast suffering to the majority of the people of this country. Business as usual is killing people. And business as usual will ultimately kill this country.
The writer, social and political commentator, can be reached at ttpguntensperger@hotmail.com