Jakarta – Indonesia's government is expected to announce fresh anti-corruption initiatives, including a review of the rules that let former president Suharto avoid prosecution by pleading ill-health.
The measures, outlined by a senior minister and included in documents obtained separately by the Financial Times, are part of a plan for the first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration. They would be unveiled next week, said two ministers.
Dr Yudhoyono came to power after promising to tackle endemic graft. Indonesia is one of the world's most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International. Since taking office almost a month ago, he and his government have made a number of symbolic moves on corruption.
Next week's initiatives look like a more concrete attempt to clean up the bureaucracy and woo back foreign investors.
"The test case now for Indonesia is not whether we are willing but whether we are able to fight corruption," said National Development Planning Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a former International Monetary Fund executive director, who has been compiling the 100-day plan.
The first two steps of the plan are to pursue key cases already under way and back a new anti-corruption court. But Dr Yudhoyono's administration is also determined to begin to "build a better system', Mrs Mulyani said.
To address "procedural barriers" to corruption cases, for example, Dr Yudhoyono's plans include a "presidential instruction" requiring the suspension of any public official facing a corruption investigation. Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, his predecessor, left key Cabinet members in place even as they underwent police investigation.
The government also wants to re-evaluate rules that allow corruption suspects to avoid court by claiming ill-health. That could affect cases such as that against Mr Suharto. Activists accuse the former president and his family of stashing away as much as US$35 billion, but the 83-year-old's lawyers claim he is unfit to stand trial.
The draft plans also call for the formation of a supervisory commission to oversee Indonesia's weak judiciary and for experts to review areas of government renowned for graft – including the tax office, Customs, the police, and the Attorney General's Office.