Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Legislators with hands in the till beware: The government is on your trail and lawmakers in the provinces are a prime target as it cracks down on graft and organised crime. For the past two months, prosecutors have been fanning out across the archipelago aggressively indicting and detaining councillors at provincial and lower administration levels.
In their cross-hairs are those who have been misusing local government budgets. In several provinces, entire legislatures have been dragged into police custody.
In April, Attorney- General M.A. Rachman ordered a clean-up as state losses resulting from corruption in local government ran into trillions of rupiah.
State prosecutors are handling more than 300 graft cases involving local councillors in 30 provinces. Many are accused of allocating state funds to fictitious projects; others are alleged to have accepted bribes during local elections.
The most spectacular case involves 43 of the 55 members of the West Sumatra provincial legislature on charges of embezzling 6.4 billion rupiah (S$1.2 million) in the 2002 provincial budget. They were sentenced to more than two years in jail in May, but are free pending appeal. In Riau, all 45 members of the Kampar regency's council have been named suspects in a 1.13 billion rupiah corruption case.
But eyebrows have been raised over the handling of corruption cases at a time when incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri is due for a September 20 election face-off with front runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
After a lacklustre performance fighting graft during the past three years, many suspect the government's latest measures are politically driven. The Straits Times understands that Ms Megawati's controversial Attorney- General – the focus of criticism after some corruption allegations – was considered for replacement ahead of the polls.
His ongoing accelerated tackling of graft might have saved his political career for now, but with few high-ranking government officials or office holders implicated in the corruption cases, the effort is seen as 'half-hearted' by many.
Said Mr Farid Faqih, who heads Government Watch, a corruption watchdog: "Cases that are being prosecuted are mostly in the provinces that are far from the centre of power." Until the big fish are caught, jaded Indonesians will give little credibility to efforts to fight corruption.