W

hile high school students in Greater Jakarta are already partying to celebrate the end of their national exams on Thursday, a vast number of their counterparts in Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Kalimantan are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of their exam papers.

The chaos, the worst in Indonesia's history, will continue into next week because the local administrations of Pinrang, South Sulawesi; Bima, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB); Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT); and others in North Sulawesi and East Kalimantan have decided to further postpone the exams until the problems are resolved.

Eleven provinces, mostly in Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara, have had their national exams delayed from the original timetable of April 15-18 after PT Ghalia Indonesia Printing, one of the six companies to win the lucrative contracts, failed to deliver.

Some unfortunate provinces did receive the materials and students sat their exams on Thursday, albeit in a degree of chaos. In some instances, however, exam materials were mixed up or incomplete. In far-flung districts, such as Pinrang in South Sulawesi, they arrived very late. Some schools relied on copy machines to tediously make up the shortfalls.

Similar problems also occurred in many places in Java and Sumatra, where the exam materials were printed by other companies allowing the exams to be held between Monday and Thursday as scheduled.

Unfortunately, the delays will cause the next round of chaos because it will force the postponement of junior high school and elementary school exams, which will most likely be just as chaotic.

The fiasco that reflects the state of Indonesia's educational system has been attributed to a web of problems including PT Ghalia's questionable capacity to print materials for 11 provinces, the late tender and delayed disbursement of the Rp 600 billion (US$61.78 million) allocated for the examinations.

The plan by the National Police to investigate possible criminal elements in the scandal deserves public support. From the outset, the whole affair has smacked of corruption. Especially questionable is the Education and Culture Ministry's decision to give the lion's share of the contract to the obscure PT Ghalia instead of dividing the task equally between the six successful bidders.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should consider calls for punitive action to be taken against Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh, in line with calls made by the Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI), Indonesian Teachers Unions Federation (FSGI) and the Education Coalition.

In the coming weeks, the ramifications of this national exam fiasco will reverberate in the political sphere.

***

Wednesday's arrest of Bogor Legislative Council speaker Iyus Juher by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on charges of accepting a bribe was simply stunning, and is only the latest in a string of such cases of corrupt officials caught in the act.

Iyus, a Democratic Party politician, was charged with accepting bribery money from Sentot Susilo from PT Garindo Perkasa, which intended to acquire 100 hectares of property to be developed into an upscale public cemetery. Among those arrested were seven government employees who collected the Rp 800 million bribe from Sentot.

Also implicated is Bogor Regent Rachmat Yasin, who has the authority of issuing the permit for the multi-billion rupiah project. The KPK plans to summon him for questioning upon his return from a minor haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Harsher punishments, such as the seizure of graft convicts' ill-gotten assets, may have a greater deterrent effect on would-be corrupt politicians and government officials.

***

Advocates for more severe punishments for graft convicts now have a new agenda: Pressing the KPK to make sexual favors an incriminating factor.

The campaign gained momentum following the revelation that a bribery suspect, Bandung District Court deputy chief justice Setyabudi Tejocahyono, had enjoyed sexual favors aside from the cash he was paid in return for handing down light sentences to officials found guilty of stealing social welfare funds.

The confession came from entrepreneur Toto Hutagalung, also named a suspect by the KPK in the scandal, which has further tarnished the already-notorious judiciary. The KPK arrested Setyabudi on March 22 while he was accepting Rp 150 million from Toto's accomplices. The case is a hot issue because it also implicates Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada.

Toto's lawyer, Johnson Siregar, said that Setyabudi regularly demanded cash and escort girls from his client, an allegation that the judge has yet to confirm.

There is no clause in any law that refers to 'sexual favors' or 'sexual gratuities' as a specific crime.

Sexual gratuities became a juicy issue, however, in January when the KPK arrested Ahmad Fatanah, a businessman who allegedly accepted a Rp 1 billion bribe from a beef importer on behalf of then PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq. Ahmad was arrested in a hotel room with a woman who admitted to his having paid her Rp 10 million to be his 'companion'.

Critics say that sexual services are difficult to prove in court due to the challenge of obtaining material evidence. But such disclosures will surely attract a moral punishment, which can help compensate for the generally light sentences handed down to graft suspects.

' Pandaya