: Super User; Indonesia; 13 October 2012; Hits: 1153

Bumpy Road to Graft-Free Indonesia

HOW do you measure corruption? Somewhat surprisingly, this is exactly the question that Indonesian political parties have been busying themselves with in recent weeks.

It all began early last week, after State Secretary Dipo Alam announced that the President’s Office had approved graft investigations into at least 147 regional government leaders. The list included 18 governors, 17 mayors, 84 regency/district chiefs, one deputy governor, 19 deputy regency chiefs and eight deputy mayors.

But Mr Dipo went one step further, arranging the list according to each individual’s political party affiliation.
As a result, the public was informed that 64 corrupt officials were from the Golkar Party, 32 were from the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P) and just 20 were affiliated with the ruling Democrat Party. Other parties with officials under investigation included the Muslim-based United Development Party, the National Awakening Party and the National Mandate Party.

The implication that Golkar and the PDI-P – two of the nation’s largest political parties – were the nation’s most corrupt stirred a storm of criticism.

PDI-P leader Tubagus Hasanuddin accused Mr Dipo of “niggling with data”, arguing that since the instances of corruption cited were not endorsed by their respective political parties, it was unethical to hold the latter responsible.

Golkar deputy treasurer Bambang Soesatyo added that the published list was also misleading. This was because it included data going back to the beginning of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s first term in 2004. His argument? That if the names from the President’s two terms were presented separately to reveal trends, the Democrat Party would look far worse.

Golkar lawmaker Poempida Hidayatullah professed to seeing an even more serious problem. “The State Secretary’s move to drag political parties onto the list can potentially sharpen conflicts,” he warned.

Finding an objective measure for something that, by its very nature, is intended to be kept secret is no easy task. Indeed, the consensus among critics appeared to be that corruption was so endemic in Indonesian society that there was little to be gained from associating the practice with particular political parties.

Curiously, however, this is where the debate stopped. After issuing statements justifying themselves, few of those who condemned Mr Dipo seemed interested in urging greater efforts to eliminate the scourge.

Indeed, a statement soon afterwards by budget watchdog, the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), saying the state lost 4.1 trillion rupiah (S$533 million) as a result of various irregularities in the second half of last year, went largely unnoticed.

For the nation’s major political parties, this seeming unconcern may well be their undoing. Earlier this month, National Democratic (NasDem) party central executive board secretary Jeffrie Geovanie pointed out the obvious. Voters fed up with the corrupt behaviour of mainstream political parties are likely to turn to fringe groups in the 2014 polls.

Mr Jeffrie’s comment might be seen as self-serving. After all, his NasDem party is itself a small grouping. Established in July last year, it is funded by media tycoon Surya Paloh.

But the point seems worthy of serious consideration. After all, the success of the ruling Democrats (not associated with NasDem) in the 2004 and 2009 elections was partly attributable to the frustration voters had felt at the time with more established secular nationalist parties such as Golkar and the PDI-P.

Apart from NasDem, smaller parties considered relatively clean (for the moment at least) include the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), which is associated with former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, and the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s politicians are considering legislation that would effectively weaken the only body that has so far proven effective in combating the menace they all claim to be strenuously opposing.

According to a draft Bill being prepared by Parliamentary Commission III (Legal Affairs), national anti-graft agency KPK is to be denied the power to conduct prosecutions on its own or wiretap suspects. It will also have to report to a supervisory body. Currently, KPK reports directly to the President and Parliament.

The move to weaken the KPK came after the agency began prosecuting lawmakers; it even threatened to go after Cabinet ministers.

According to Fitra’s Mr Uchok Sky Khadafi, Indonesia’s provincial administrations are no longer afraid of the Supreme Audit Agency's audits. If the proposed amendments to the 2002 KPK legislation are passed, politicians may not have to worry about KPK either.

For now, defining who is corrupt and who is not remains the prerogative of Parliament, the courts (themselves widely believed to be corruption-prone), and influential people with special interests to protect.

In 2014, however, the voters will get their turn.

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Key Political Risks

Asia is the fastest growing region in the world, and is likely to remain so in 2013. However, a number of risks cloud the picture.

The good news is that domestic demand in the region remains strong and should continue to cushion the impact of weaker external demand on overall economic growth. The completion of national elections in Japan and South Korea in December 2012 should also help reduce political uncertainties.

But Asian governments will need to guard against the adverse impact of prolonged easy financial conditions on inflation.

Rising inequality also continues to threaten social stability. Ethnic and religious rivalries remain just below the surface in many countries. When combined with government corruption and (in some countries) high youth unemployment, this could become a deadly mix. This seems particularly true of China.

Territorial disputes also require close monitoring. Much diplomatic activity in the new year is likely to be centered on finding ways to reduce tensions over resource-rich islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing's claims overlap with those of Japan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian states. South Korea and Japan also have rival territorial claims.

North Korea remains the wild card. Inclined to believe its own propaganda, Pyongyang's new leadership could miscalculate, making belligerent moves that plunge the region into a military conflict that nobody wants.