Ezra Sihite – While the government struggles to fund economic development and cover growing fuel subsidy spending, lawmakers, business leaders and bureaucrats continue to steal the public's money out of greed, anti-corruption activists say.

According to Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, the 2012 state budget had a deficit of Rp 36.1 trillion ($3.8 billion) in the first half of this year, largely due to the growing fuel subsidy. He said on Thursday that revenue reached Rp 593.3 trillion but spending hit Rp 629.4 trillion by July.

Activists said on Friday that the high spending was also caused by rampant corruption in procurement projects as lawmakers, officials and business leaders worked together to steal public money earmarked for development.

Firdaus Ilyas, a senior researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said trillions of rupiah had been siphoned off from hundreds of projects, from Rp 100 billion in the Koran procurement project to Rp 2.5 trillion in the Hambalang sport center case and Rp 7 trillion from regional infrastructure projects. "The cases continue every day. It seems like all government projects have corruption," he said.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has estimated that about Rp 200 trillion is embezzled every year through rigged bids.

KPPU member M. Nawir Messi said last month that roughly 40 percent, or around Rp 650 trillion, was spent every year on projects offered through bids. Of the Rp 650 trillion, 30 percent was lost on "markups."

Subsequently, State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan also claimed that 70 percent of state companies won project tenders through corruption.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, from the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), said that while the dispersal of funds from regional offices was slow, a significant amount of the money so far agreed to be disbursed for projects this year had already been expropriated.