Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Cirebon in West Java and Pekanbaru in Riau are perceived to be the most corrupt cities in Indonesia, according to a major new poll commissioned by Transparency International Indonesia.
The two cities tied in this year's Corruption Perception Index with a score of just 3.61, with 10 being the cleanest. "Reports from local and national media on both cities are filled with cases of corruption. This has affected the perception of businesses operating there," researcher Frenky Simanjuntak said on Tuesday.
The organization says this year's survey is the most comprehensive it has undertaken here, involving 9,237 respondents from the business sector in 50 cities.
Cirebon is known for its port and fisheries and was until recently the base of British American Tobacco Indonesia, while Riau has some of the nation's largest oil reserves operated by Caltex Indonesia. It also is a major timber-producing province.
Denpasar in Bali was named Indonesia's cleanest city with a score of 6.71, followed by Tegal, Central Java, with 6.26 and Solo rating a 6. The West Papuan capital, Manokwari, and Yogyakarta tied at fourth with 5.81.
"But despite being relatively cleaner than other cities, even the good-scoring areas failed to reach a score of 7. So we are seeing that some aspects of the cities' administrations are still perceived as corrupt," TII chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said. "We are still a long way from a 9. If a city got such a score, it would be a model for governance reform."
This year, the antigraft watchdog has also added one crucial point to the survey – separating the achievements of bureaucratic reforms in public offices and those in law-enforcement agencies. "Generally the cities surveyed have scored very low in terms of law enforcement and the fight against corruption," Frenky said.
The National Police quickly topped the list when respondents were asked which government institution required immediate reform. The Tax Office and the nation's judiciary were next on the list.
Tegal in Central Java and Kupang of East Nusa Tenggara made huge improvements over the past two years. In 2008, Tegal was named the second-most corrupt city with a score of 3.32. This year, it was the second-cleanest. Kupang scored 4.89 this year to rank 27th, while in 2008 it was at the bottom with a 2.97.
Iskandar Hasan, of the State Ministry for Administrative Reform, said Kupang Mayor Daniel Adoe had been shocked at the 2008 results and vowed to tackle corruption.
The biggest drop was seen in Jambi, which plummeted from 4th place to 46th. Frenky said Jambi had clearly slackened off on bureaucratic reform. Jakarta came off slightly worse, ranking 38th with a score of 4.43, down from 36th in last year's survey.