War on graft not over yet

War on graft not over yet

Endy M. Bayuni, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post

The House of Representatives may have terminated one battle
against corruption by voting down the Buloggate II inquiry, but
the war against corruption is not over yet by a long shot.

If there is any lesson to be learned from this Buloggate II
episode, it is that we can no longer count on the House, nor the
administration of President Megawati Soekarnoputri for that
matter, to wage the war against corruption, collusion and
nepotism on our behalf.

But as the saying goes, it ain't over till the fat lady sings.
From now on, possibly until we elect a more pro-reform government
after the 2004 general election, we will have to wage the war
practically by ourselves.

There's no doubt however that losing the Buloggate II
represents a major set back for the reformation movement, and a
victory for the anti-reformist camp.

The vote effectively ended the campaign to investigate
allegations of corruption against Speaker Akbar Tandjung,
supposedly committed in 1999 while he still served as the state
secretary under then president B.J. Habibie.

Akbar is currently standing trial in the Rp 40 billion ($4
million) graft case, although he remains free to go about his
daily business, including leading the House and his Golkar Party.

But some members of the House have been entertaining the idea
of launching a separate political inquiry, feeling that the court
trials alone will not be enough to reveal any ethical violations
or even possible criminal acts committed by Akbar.

The background to this inquiry was the allegation that Rp 40
billion belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) was used
to finance political parties during the 1999 elections.

The campaign started in October with a petition by 50 House
members calling for a special inquiry.

The scandal was immediately dubbed Buloggate II to distinguish
it from the Buloggate I scandal that ultimately brought down
President Abdurrahman Wahid in July of last year.

For the past nine months, the nation has been debating the
pros and cons of such an inquiry. The House held four plenary
sessions debating the issue before it put it to a vote on Monday.

In retrospect, those lengthy debates, the many seminars, the
endless radio and television talk shows, and the hundreds of
articles and editorials written on the subject all seem like a
big waste of time now, considering the outcome. The House could
have spared the nation precious hours and resources had it
rejected the planned inquiry right from the start.

As such, Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), which had enough clout to ensure that the
inquiry was launched, wavered during the debate, keeping the
issue constantly on the front burner of the national political
agenda.

On Monday, when the matter was finally put to a vote in the
House, the majority of the PDI Perjuangan abstained, effectively
killing once and for all the debate, which has been part and
parcel of the national campaign to end graft in the country.

While the episode has been a wasteful exercise, it has taught
us that neither the House of Representatives nor the Megawati
administration have the strength or the political will to do what
is needed to end the corruption that has brought the country to
its present state of near bankruptcy.

The way the Buloggate II campaign was terminated shows that
just about every politician is now more concerned about his seat,
more specifically about the 2004 elections. They certainly have
abandoned any notion of eradicating corruption, although that was
the campaign platform on which they were elected in 1999.

The PDI Perjuangan's excuse for abstaining during Monday's
vote -- that it was satisfied with the ongoing legal proceedings
against Akbar -- was another attempt to gloss over the real
reason: A political deal with Akbar Tandjung's Golkar Party not
to upset the state of things before 2004. Being the second
largest faction in the House, Golkar has used its clout
effectively against Megawati's administration and her PDI
Perjuangan to make sure that the Buloggate II inquiry never got
off the ground.

The current legal proceedings against Akbar are not likely to
lead to anything substantial about his role in the Bulog scandal
because the government prosecutors have, from the outset, made it
clear that they were not interested in where the Rp 40 billion
went. The dossier against Akbar was limited to his ability to
account for the money; now that the money has been "returned" to
Bulog, the prosecutors have virtually no case.

If that's the way the government prosecutors deal with
allegations of corruption, it is no wonder that KKN remains
rampant. The judicial system has also a lot to answer for as
regards the nation's constant failure to punish corruptors. But
that is another subject for debate for another time.

For now, the House, particularly Megawati's PDI Perjuangan,
has again let the nation down. Many people voted in the 1999
general election hoping that these elected representatives, and
PDI Perjuangan in particular, would take the lead in eradicating
corruption in Indonesia once and for all.

In spite of the people's mandate, their record on this front
has been so meager and disappointing that the public are starting
to lose their trust in House members. Buloggate II could have
turned things around. Alas, the honorable members decided to
squander that opportunity.

All is not lost, however. The reform movement may have
conceded one battle, but not the entire war against corruption.

On the contrary, this episode has allowed the public to
distinguish the real reformers from the phony ones. Since every
politician seems to be preoccupied with 2004, we too should gear
ourselves for that year and make sure that we use our ballot
paper wisely and effectively. From the Buloggate II episode, we
have to make sure that we send the real reformers to Senayan.