The World Bank -- again
The World Bank -- again
On April 17, 2001 The Jakarta Post carried my letter Babies
and corruption in which I said that in canceling the US$300
million poverty alleviation loan, the World Bank had made it
clear it had found corruption in the program. I waited to see a
letter from the bank's Jakarta office correcting my exaggeration;
for in fact their announcement wasn't as unambiguous as that.
We've all assumed that the bank's language in announcing the
cancellation was a polite way of pointing to corruption within
the program, and the bank has not taken any steps to correct this
public perception.
The loan cancellation is a tacit acknowledgement that the bank
is still after all these years either unable to figure out how to
control gross corruption from within its projects, or unwilling
to do what's needed. What was missing from the bank's
announcement of the loan cancellation was any mention of what it
planned to do about the malfeasance it discovered. (And if it did
not discover malfeasance, why did it cancel such a vital
program?)
Has it turned evidence over to someone to be investigated?
Or blacklisted responsible program managers from eligibility for
future employment for their poor management (if not outright
corruption)? Or announced its findings to the public as a
learning instrument? As usual the bank is silent -- the silence
of dubious diplomacy or mistaken cultural sensitivity. If the
bank has found wrongdoing, doesn't it have an obligation to try
to recover the money or materials that were lost to corruption?
If it does not do so, in justice it cannot expect Indonesia to
repay the $300 million.
In the end, it is the World Bank that stands accused, again,
of negligent oversight and instruction of program managers. This
negligence is costing Indonesia dearly, in money and lost
opportunities. When and how will it end? Will the World Bank
please tell us clearly, and without platitudes and mumbo jumbo,
via an article in this paper, specifically what you plan to do?
Or as an alternative, correct any misperceptions and
misstatements in this letter. But please, be transparent and
accountable to the people of Indonesia and of those other
countries whose taxpayers' pay your high salaries.
DONNA K. WOODWARD
Medan, North Sumatra