Newly elected leaders of countries internationally notorious for corruption as Indonesia often like to declare a war on corruption and express commitments to implement comprehensive reforms. However, many of the battles fail because they lack strong leadership to overcome bureaucratic resistance and inertia, and soon it is again business as usual with all kinds of graft practices, nepotism, patronage, embezzlement and bribes.
This, we think, should be the main theme and spirit of the big rallies to be conducted by anticorruption activists and organizations in Jakarta and other major cities on Wednesday to mark International Anti-Corruption Day.
The rallies should serve as a strong warning to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the entire nation that anticorruption reforms have a good chance of success when they are moved by a strong leader with the full support of civil society organizations, and are free from political manipulation.
The recent national uproar over what the public perceived to be a conspiracy to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the tussle between the police and KPK again serve to warn us that the battle against graft is likely to fail if basic democratic institutions – from civil society, parliament to judiciary systems – do not function properly.
The parliamentary enactment of the corruption court law late in September is just one example of the strong resistance to the antigraft drive. The new law will not only remove many of the KPK’s extraordinary powers such as the deployment of telecommunications wiretaps, intercepts and close-circuit camera surveillance to nab corruption.
The new legislation also threatens the integrity and competence of the KPK because it requires the establishment of Corruption Courts in all 33 provinces and in 490 regencies and cities within two years. It will be rather impossible for the Supreme Court to prepare, within such a short time, so many career and ad hoc judges with the required high standards of competence and integrity.
It is because of the acute lack of competent and clean judges – in view of the corruption-tainted regular court system – that the Corruption Court was initially set up only in Jakarta. There are truly big risks that the hastily-established Corruption Courts outside Jakarta will perform badly and damage the public’s trust in the KPK and the whole anticorruption campaign.
Corruption is too big a problem and too important an agenda to be left to the government alone, because corrupt practices sabotage development efforts, erode confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law.
We hope business leaders, though not directly taking part in the rallies, also realize the importance of maintaining the spirit and drive against corruption because graft undermines public trust, which is essential for a functioning private sector, and creates an environment of uncertainty in business operations.
The vicious circle is simple: If businesspeople bribe once, they set a demand and if they don’t get what they bribe for, they are in no position to complain as they themselves have broken the law. This vicious circle will continue as bribing businesspeople are vulnerable to blackmail and even threats.
