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Law enforcement against corruption needs overhaul
In Indonesia, it is commonly asked why officials are still bent on committing corruption, despite the many sting operations of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
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This picture taken on March 28, 2019 shows Basariah Panjaitan (L), deputy chairperson of the corruption eradication commission (KPK), seated alongside KPK officers along with boxes of Indonesian currency totalling over 560,000 USD, seized from a lawmaker's office, during a press conference in Jakarta ahead of the country's general elections. Some 192 million Indonesians are set to vote for a record 245,000 candidates on April 17, from the president and parliamentary seats to thousands more local positions in the world's third-biggest democracy. That presents a huge challenge for graft busters, especially in remote parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago.
(AFP/Mamat)
S
ystemic corruption, marked by continued abuses of power by public officials at various levels of government, has frustrated and angered many members of the public. This outrage has been expressed by some through a demand for the death penalty for corruption convicts, in the belief this it would finally eradicate the practice.
However, such an assumption needs to be reexamined, so that policies to fight corruption are not born out of anger. The death sentence for corruption convicts in China, for example, has not proven to be a successful strategy for eradicating the practice.
Take the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) survey by Transparency International, in which China’s score in 2017 was only 41, placing it 77th in the world. Last year, China’s score dropped to 39, with the country sliding to 87th in the world.
In contrast, countries that are considered free from corruption are mostly advanced economies without capital punishment for corruption, such as the Scandinavian nations, New Zealand and Singapore.
Effective anticorruption strategies in different countries have involved three main approaches, namely law enforcement, prevention and public education. All these three strategies must be aligned and go hand-in-hand and be adapted to the problems of each country.
In Indonesia, it is commonly asked why officials are still bent on committing corruption, despite the many sting operations of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The answer might be that the strategy to eradicate corruption is insufficient. Many convicts are, in reality, free to temporarily exit prison for various reasons, they can also bribe wardens for luxury items and maintain their positions as paid civil servants.
