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Bribery, sextortion for public services rampant in Indonesia: Survey
Three in 10 Indonesians admitted to having paid bribes when accessing public services, according to a survey by Transparency International Indonesia.
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Illustration of bribery and corruption. (Shutterstock/Atstock Productions)
M
any Indonesians have admitted to bribing public officials or experiencing sextortion when accessing public services in the past year, a recent survey conducted by antigraft organization Transparency International Indonesia (TII) has found.
On Thursday, TII launched the 2020 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB), which observes public opinion on corruption practices in Asia from March 2019 to September 2020, involving 20,000 respondents from 17 countries.
In Indonesia, the survey involved 1,000 respondents from 28 provinces, with data collected between June 15 and July 24.
The results found that the level of bribery for public services in Indonesia was the third-highest in Asia, after India and Cambodia. The level was at 30 percent, falling insignificantly from 32 percent since the latest GCB in 2017.
Three in 10 Indonesians admitted to having paid bribes when accessing public services. The majority said they did it simply as a token of gratitude, while others said they were asked to pay a fee or being offered better access.
“The culture of giving gifts, the culture of gratification, is considered normal and is made natural by many Indonesians,” TII researcher Alvin Nicola said on Thursday.
The survey found that such bribery occurred mostly in police services, accounting for 41 percent, above the average in Asia of 23 percent. Indonesia was in fourth place – after Taiwan, Thailand and India – in terms of bribery for police services.
