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Indonesia may need 100 years to be free from corruption
Political corruption is at the heart of the rampant graft that is prevalent in Indonesia, and tackling that will take a commander in chief with resolve who is fully cognizant of the real impacts.
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Shown the door: Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Firli Bahuri leaves the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) building in Jakarta on Dec. 27, 2023, after a questioning session. Firli has been named a suspect for allegedly extorting former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo. (Antara/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
T
he battered mess in eradicating corruption in Indonesia results from the absence of political leadership. If corruption continues to be as rampant as it is today, it is estimated that Indonesia will take no less than 100 years to return to the path to becoming a clean country.
The tragic reality contained in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for Indonesia not only repeats the history a decade ago when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo assumed power, but with a score of 34, it also reflects the country’s worst decline since 1997, or almost 20 years since Indonesia ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
Indonesia numbers among the Asian countries with the steepest decline and currently ranks 115th out of 180 assessed countries, down from 110th previously.
Its poor anti-corruption performance has plunged Indonesia closer to the top third of the most corrupt countries in the world, far worse than neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Thailand. This position is heartbreaking for a country that held the Group of 20 presidency in 2022 and the ASEAN chairmanship in 2023.
Exploring further, the slump in Indonesia’s CPI has been attributed primarily to the increasing grip of political risks that caused legal uncertainty in the country’s business ecosystem.
For instance, Indonesia’s score in the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) of the Political Risk Services again fell from 35 in 2022 to 32 last year.
If we look even deeper, Indonesia has declined 16 points in the previous two years. This highlights the continued prevalence of extra payments and bribes related to export-import licensing, which has affected business actors, as well as ongoing conflicts of interest between politicians and business actors in a pervasive political system.
