The center for anticorruption studies of Gadjah Mada University’s School of Law has given President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government a red score in term of corruption eradication, especially during its first 100 days.
Presenting the center’s evaluation on Yudhoyono’s first 100 days of his second term on Tuesday, researcher Danang Kurniadi said it was hard to award the government a good score despite the President’s claim that all the programs were on track.
“It’s nonsense. Only a few have been carried out.”
Danang pointed to three out of 10 programs in the fields of politics, law and security, which the center considered to correlate with efforts to eradicate national corruption.
The three programs were the restructuring of cooperation between law enforcement institutions including the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police and prosecutors’ office, law enforcement; reforms in the bureaucracy; and government management.
“In term of restructuring law enforcement institutions, no significant improvement has been made except for the Attorney General Office’s plan to cut 3,000 structural posts for efficiency,” Danang said.
In term of law enforcement, the government, through the AGO, is considered to have failed to bring large-scale corruption cases to the surface as well as falling short of realizing the target of uncovering major cases in the seven provincial prosecutors’ offices that include Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sumatra and North Sumatra.
“According to an evaluation by Indonesia Corruption Watch, only six of 13 cases being handled have been brought to court. People also deserve to be concerned about the possible lenient punishment for the convicts,” Danang said.
In terms of bureaucracy and government reforms, likewise, the center notes that the issue has yet to be thoroughly accomplished.
Unlike during the 2004-2009 period, according to the center, Yudhoyono’ second administration lacks planning and strategy in drawing policies.
“If five years ago the President was highly praised for his Presidential Decree No 5/2004 on corruption eradication acceleration, a similar thing has not happened during his first 100 days,” Danang said.
Instead, he added, Yudhoyono had frequently issued incidental, reactive legal products, indicating he does not have any long-term goals in tackling corruption.
Danang cited the issuance of Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No 4/2009 on the KPK’s temporary leaders following the murder case involving KPK chairman Antasari Azhar and the detention of KPK deputy chairmen Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto over alleged power abuse.
“The Perppu would have been unnecessary if Yudhoyono had been firm in dealing with the case involving Chandra and Bibit.”
Other examples, he added, included Presidential Decree No 31/2009 on the establishment of the fact-finding independent team in the arrest of Chandra and Bibit and Presidential Decree No 37/2009 on the establishment of judicial corruption eradication taskforce.
Although the taskforce establishment was warmly welcomed by a number of communities, Danang said it was not the right step to take.
