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Indonesia's house of reps tops list of corrupt institutions, again

Jakarta Globe - June 6, 2012

Ezra Sihite, Ismira Lutfia & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The House of Representatives again topped a list of corrupt institutions in a survey conducted by the Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicate (SSS), an independent research organization.

"A total of 62.4 percent, or 1,367 respondents, deemed that the current members of the House of Representatives are only looking to make a living," Muhammad Dahlan, one of the coordinators of the SSS survey, said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Only a few of those surveyed perceived lawmakers in the legislative as faithfully representing the majority. "A total of 466 respondents, or 21 percent, deemed that lawmakers conduct their duties as representatives of the people," Dahlan said.

The survey, conducted in 33 provinces between May 14-24, questioned a total of 2,192 people, 54 percent of whom were male. Dahlan also said that the House of Representatives was seen more as a place for politicians to gather, rather than an institution to represent the will and aspirations of the people.

House Deputy speaker Pramono Anung, commenting on the results of the survey, said the public feedback should spark a response in the legislative. "Of course, this should become a correction for the DPR; whatever the results of the survey, it does show that public trust has gone down," Pramono said.

He added that such a view was understandable because the legislative has been at the core of numerous corruption cases, including the Hambalang stadium case and the Southeast Asian games' Athletes village project.

"Therefore, there should be an internal improvement, if the DPR is loosing the trust of the people," said Pramono, who is from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P.)

The survey has named the tax office, the police, political parties and the Attorney General's Office as four other most corrupt Indonesian institutions.

Conversely, five of the "cleanest" institutions out of the 15 surveyed include the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), the presidential office, the Supreme Court and the Indonesian Military (TNI). (BeritaSatu/JG)