Agus Maryono, Cilacap – It has been more than a year since any significant projects have been launched in Cilacap regency, Central Java. This inactivity has been attributed to an overall lack of enthusiasm and trauma suffered by government officials because of the regency's many outstanding corruption cases.

The regency administration has not initiated new development projects since early 2009, Adipala district chief Budi Santoso told The Jakarta Post last week.

"We are paralyzed by stress. We have to think introspectively. Let this be a valuable lesson for Cilacap," Budi said, adding that currently most local officials were working to reorganize the administration's filing system.

"We must be very careful when spending the regency budget. We don't want any more reports of corruption in Cilacap," Budi said.

A number of graft cases involving Cilacap officials were recently exposed by police and prosecutors, including high-profile cases involving the Cilacap regent and secretary.

Former Cilacap regent Probo Yulastoro is currently behind bars after being convicted to nine year's imprisonment in February for misappropriating Rp 21 billion (US$2.3 million) from the regency budget.

Cilacap regency administration secretary Soeprihono is serving one-and-a-half years for embezzling Rp 1 billion.

Following the verdicts, Cilacap regency administration officials – from a district level to agency heads – seem to have lost enthusiasm in their work, especially after Banyumas Police threatened to detain every district head who refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Apart from the former regent and the regency secretary, the prosecutors office also prosecuted and detained the head of the local finance agency, Fajar Subekti, and one of his staffers for colluding with the regent in misusing the regency budget.

Twenty-one district heads and around 100 village chiefs in Cilacap also underwent intensive questioning by the Banyumas Police last year because of their alleged involvement in misappropriating Village Allocation Funds (ADD) worth Rp 48 billion.

During the investigations, the village administration division head and two of his staffers were named suspects. Police demanded that they surrender hundreds of millions of rupiah and cars as evidence.

District and village heads proven to have benefited from the funds were also required to return ill-gotten funds to police. Each district head received Rp 7 million, while village chiefs received Rp 2.5 million.

Many district and village heads claim they did not know that the ADD funds they received came from corrupt sources, and assumed the money had been provided as an incentive to continue projects being implemented in their areas. "The situation was very tense. We kept quiet because we were afraid of being implicated and imprisoned," Budi said.

However, before the graft cases related to the ADD funds were completely resolved, Banyumas Police were phased out as part of the National Police headquarters' streamlining policy. The move halted progress on graft investigations involving a huge number of officials. It is still not clear which body has been authorized to follow up on the investigations.

As a result, no major projects or development plans are expected in the near future, and many agency heads have remained tight-lipped when questioned by the media.

Deputy regent Tatto S. Pamuji, who is currently in charge of the administration, said he is still busy reorganizing the bureaucracy to boost the administration's working spirit, and has instructed all officials to proceed with their work as usual.

"I told them to leave the corruption cases to the authorities while we maintain our responsibilities to the public," Tatto told the Post. "I emphasize that they need to learn from past experiences. Do not try to fool around with the budget. Work professionally. If you betray the people's trust, you will face the risk of spending your retirement in prison."

The administration would be selective and careful in endorsing all budget-related issues, Tatto said.

"I don't want to be trapped by anyone, including by subordinates who don't do their jobs professionally."