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Indonesia the third most corrupt nation in ASEAN
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 12/02/2008 5:58 PM | National
Indonesia is the third most corrupt nation among its Southeast Asian peers and was ranked seventh in the world in terms of misused state funds, a member of the country's corruption watchdog (KPK) says.
The data showed Indonesia was just behind its neighbors the Philippines and Thailand, Wiryono Prakoso said in Denpasar on Tuesday at a seminar on corruption eradication.
"Corruption has made it difficult for the government to improve public welfare and decrease the number of people living in poverty," Wiryono said.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had been focusing on working to improve public services, including health care, immigration and taxation, Wiryono added.
"We encourage the public to report any instances of corruption as we will protect witnesses and follow up on any reports they make," he said, as quoted by Antara news agency. (ewd)
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MjO — Thu, 12/04/2008 - 11:15pm
So much has to do with the mindset here in Indonesia.
Let us look at the penniless, uneducated Joe from Kampung who walks in to a bank with a machete and gets away with some millions of Rupiah. If caught, which is usually the case, this common criminal is seen being led into court in handcuffs and dressed in prison clothes with a police officer on either arm steering him forward very firmly. You may even see him on some popular reality TV program being questioned whilst in police custody. He can probably look forward to spending many years rotting in some hellhole prison. This is if he is lucky and not shot dead trying to make a getaway. On the other hand there is your already very wealthy, respected person who has been caught embezzling state funds to the tune of many billions of Rupiah. No more needs to be said really.
In most democratic countries, steeling from the state, which is exactly what corruption here in Indonesia usually boils down to, is seen and treated as the most despicable and serious type of theft. It is after all stealing from the people and has the most far reaching negative effect on the country and its citizens. The perpetrators receive the most severe sentencing and are treated as the very worst and lowest form of criminal.
Because of its limited manpower and resources the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) alone will never be able to resolve the problem. By their own admission they are able to only deal with a tiny fraction of the cases reported. In 2007 the KPK managed to complete its investigations of 19 cases, and is expecting to complete less in 2008. The number of reported cases is in access of 16,000. This means very simply that the odds on getting away with stealing state funds are very heavily weighted in favour of the criminal, and the often light sentencing make the risk worth it.
When the perpetrators are treated as the very worst of criminals, disgraced, ostracised and held in contempt by the whole community, stripped completely of all their ill-gotten gains, and sent to the worst prisons available for very lengthy sentences, then Indonesia will start to see this cancer go into regress.
R.astari — Fri, 12/05/2008 - 9:04pm
I know I sound apathetic, but I'm afraid it will be no.1 soon - because The House of The (So-Called) Representatives chose to bother with passing on The Anti-Pornography Bill instead of The Anti-Corruption Bill. Talk about latent hypocrisy.
Harry — Sun, 12/07/2008 - 3:13pm
glad for the improvement, yet somehow sad for losing the no.1 title ;p