Yogya institutions ‘not ready’ for transparency

YOGYAKARTA: Public institutions in Yogyakarta province were not yet ready to fully implement the 2008 Public Information Transparency Law, despite the fact that the law had been effective since last year, a survey has said.

“Among the worst is openness in financial information,” said Beny Susanto, researcher at the Yogyakarta Nongovernmental Organization Forum, on Thursday, as he presented the results of the survey on the province’s implementation of the law.

The survey, which was conducted with support from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), was held from May to October 2011 and involved 300 respondents representing public institutions across the Yogyakarta province.

The survey revealed over 90 percent of over 200 respondents were open about information relating to the profile, activities and performance of institutions, but that only 51 percent of 116 responding respondents were open about financial information.

“This shows that only a few government institutions are willing to share their financial transparency,” Beny said.

Public communication expert Lukas Ispandriarno of Atma Jaya University expressed concern over the fact, saying that the institutions were managing taxpayers money.

“They cannot do that. They must be transparent,” he said.

Lukas said that the survey’s results were concerning as they indicated that the Yogyakarta provincial administration was far from open, accountable and transparent.

“These three aspects can lead to a conflict of interests in various policies, which can further drag public institutions into corrupt practices,” he said.

Low accountability could be seen from the survey’s data, which showed that only 46 percent of 139 respondents said they announced annual reports on their activities to the public. “This is a relatively low figure,” Beny said.