Death Sentence Won't be Enough for Indonesian Corruptors

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesia’s anti-graft agency is investigating the forestry and mining sectors, the legal system and the tax office in a bid to stamp out widespread corruption, a top official told Reuters on Monday. Bibit Samad Rianto, one of four deputy chairmen of the KPK as the agency is known, said that despite efforts by businessmen, politicians, and members of the so-called “legal mafia” to derail investigations and discredit the agency, it had resumed work on several big corruption cases.

Indonesia’s abundant natural resources, ranging from copper and coal to timber and tin, have long been the target of smuggling, resulting in hefty losses to the state. Reform of the tax office under former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has resulted in much higher tax collection, but graft and tax evasion remain problems.

“Tax, mining and logging, and state-owned enterprises which become like ATMs (automated teller machines) for officials are areas prone to graft,” said Rianto, 64, one of two KPK officials framed in a bid to weaken the agency last year.

“Even though they fabricate a case against us, we are not deterred by it. But they are fighting back.”

Corruption, along with red tape and poor infrastructure, is one of the deterrents cited by investors, particularly from those countries with tough foreign corruption laws who feel they cannot compete against those with more lenient attitudes. Many investors were encouraged by the re-election last year of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who promised to continue tackling corruption, and by the success of the KPK in going after corrupt lawmakers and government officials, among others.

Indonesia has made some progress, as shown by the slight improvement in its score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index — up from 1.7 in 1999 to 2.8 last year, where 10 is the best score and zero is the worst. But Indonesia’s reformers and corruption fighters face a tough battle against corrupt politicians and businessmen.

The attempt last year to undermine the KPK was eventually exposed and halted following a public outcry. Even though Rianto and his colleague were eventually let out of prison, the false case against them is being appealed.

A new chairman will also be selected soon, after the last one was jailed on a murder charge. Indrawati, who left the finance ministry this month to join the World Bank, said her reform policies has been shoved aside to accommodate a marriage of political and business interests.

“Corruption in Indonesia is like an iceberg. At the top is the tip of the iceberg, and it is not enough to only get rid of that. The layers below, corruption hazards and the root cause of corruption, must be destroyed too,” said Rianto, a former police chief in Balikpapan, on Borneo island.

There, he said he was routinely offered up to 500 million rupiah ($54,000) each time he caught illegal loggers to let them go — but didn’t. “Naming and shaming the corrupt has not been an effective way to embarrass them,” said Rianto, adding that introducing the death penalty, as has been discussed, would not be a sufficient deterrent either.

“It’s like going into a garbage dump. After five days, you get used to the foul smell. The same goes to the death sentence.

Source : kompas.com

Posted in: