Wealth declarations must be verified, say experts

JAKARTA (JP): Experts see the announcement of public servants' wealth as a good start in fighting corruption, but say it will take time before any effect is seen.

Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association chairman Hendardi said on Saturday that announcing official's wealth would be useless unless it was followed by investigation.

"If it is aimed at fighting corruption, there should be a follow up like an investigation to find evidence (of the accuracy)," he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

"If not, what's the use of announcing someone's wealth?" he added.

Hendardi was referring to an announcement made by the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) last Wednesday.

The commission presented a list of assets of 47 public servants, including President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The list was based on forms which the public servants filled out.

Megawati and her husband, legislator Taufik Kiemas, topped the list with total assets of Rp 59.809 billion (US$5.4 million).

The assets include cash, land, buildings, vehicles and eight gas stations.

Meanwhile, Abdurrahman ranks number eight with total assets of some Rp 3.5 billion.

Almost half of the assets, or some Rp 1.722 billion, are precious stones and metals, art and antiques which Abdurrahman said he was given from 1999, when he was elected president, to 2000.

According to Hendardi, assets in the form of gifts is questionable and can lead to an investigation.

"The President received the gifts in the first year of his presidency. It is questionable," he said.

Meanwhile, legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo from University of Indonesia said that the President's wealth was relatively small.

"The point is, it's what the commission got and we don't see the details so we don't know about the accuracy," she told the Post.

The commission, she added, should publicly announce what it does with the list.

Furthermore, Harkristuti said that there was nothing much that could be done in regard to the list.

"Next year when the commission shows the list of public servants' wealth, we can do something. We'll see if there are any surprising increases in wealth," she said.

Separately, a legal sociologist from Semarang's University of Diponegoro, Satjipto Rahardjo, said that government officials' wealth should have been announced before they were appointed.

"There are more political aspects in the announcement of wealth," he said without elaborating.

Satjipto said that the commission should consist of professional accountants so that it would be easy for them to cross-check the list.

Similar to Satjipto, Harkristuti questioned the capability of the commission as it was made up of people who passed a fit-and- proper test set by the House of Representatives. As they are not professional, the public should not expect too much from them, she said.

Hendardi criticized the composition of the commission, saying it was designed simply to satisfy political parties by putting their people on the commission.

As for the rest of the officials who have yet to return the forms to the commission, Hendardi said that it proved that the will to fight corruption, collusion and nepotism was still low.

Many officials, including House Speaker Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, have not returned their forms listing their assets, saying that they are still in recess. Some have complained that it takes time to fill out the form while others claim they received their forms late due to technical matters.

"When it comes to their own wealth, they are still reluctant," Hendardi said.

Harkristuti said that the officials should be given more time.

"If they haven't submitted it by now, then it should be announced publicly so that they are embarrassed. That is, if they still can feel embarrassment," she said.(hdn)