Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia will fight corruption by focusing on bureaucratic reforms, not on the prosecution of serving and former government officials who are suspected of graft.
State Apparatus Minister Feisal Tamin told The Straits Times yesterday: "The past is the past. We cannot look backward and dig up old cases. That is a waste of time." He unveiled the government's new anti-corruption paradigm, which focuses on cleaning up the country's 6.5-million-strong bureaucracy, after meeting President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Monday.
The new programme advocates less complicated procedures for virtually all government services, including the issuance of identity cards, business permits, driver's licences and tax-payment records. The cost of each service would be well publicised, and citizens would be encouraged to report irregularities or unlawful conduct on the part of bureaucrats.
The government also plans to install anti-corruption safeguards, including regular monitoring and audits of government accounts and bureaucrats' personal wealth.
Mr Feisal explained: "Current procedures create many chances for corruption. Reforming the bureaucracy has to be the focus of our anti- corruption efforts. Law enforcement and prosecution can follow these reforms. But if we devote energy on going after people for past violations, we will never move forward." Indonesia's creditors, including the World Bank and the IMF, have long demanded anti-corruption measures as part of the reform pro- mises Jakarta has made in exchange for financial aid. Yet since the Suharto era, few individuals have gone to prison for past corruption or abuses of power.
Mr Suharto himself faced charges that were later dropped due to poor health. His son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra is now a fugitive from the law. He was handed an 18-month jail sentence last October for graft. Several leading tycoons have also opted for medical treatment in Japan or Singapore whenever they faced corruption-related questioning by the prosecutors.
Legal and anti-corruption experts, however, warned yesterday that the real challenge before Ms Megawati's government remains the prosecution of corrupt officials. According to them, most of the top politicians, including members of the President's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), are too eager to brush away the past and to start on a clean slate.
Professor J.E. Sahetapy, a PDI-P legislator who two weeks ago was rumoured to be in the running for the attorney-general's position, said: "Many people want to forgive and forget. The government now has it backwards. Prosecutions have to precede reforms." Prominent Jakarta lawyer Frans Winarta agreed: "The government needs a breakthrough – successful anti-corruption prosecutions – to regain the people's trust. If we don't punish the big corrupters at the top level, we won't succeed in getting rid of corruption."