Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power a year ago after a landslide victory with promises to fight rampant corruption. His unprecedented campaign has rooted out small-time corruption as well as major graft involving top government officials, legislators and officials in state-owned companies and banks. His 51-member Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has already snared several high-profile offenders.
Yet, as if emphasizing the never-ending variations of corruption and the extent of the problem in the country, Indonesia's chief justice last week faced calls for his resignation after a half-brother of former president Suharto claimed he was "blackmailed" by the "judicial mafia" in the country's highest legal institution.
Probosutedjo, whose appeal is being heard by a panel of three Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Bagir Manan, made the allegation after the KPK questioned him over the scandal. He claimed he had set aside a huge bribe that his lawyer, a former high court judge had urged, in order to win his appeal against a jail sentence handed down by the lower courts.
He was convicted of abusing reforestation funds and sentenced to four years in jail by the Central Jakarta District Court in 2003. The Jakarta High Court later reduced the term to two years. Probosutedjo was implicated in the bribery case after the KPK arrested his lawyer, Harini Wiyoso, and five Supreme Court officials for alleged involvement in the scam.
Probosutedjo said so far he has paid Rp16 billion (US$1.5 million) to three courts dealing with his corruption case: Rp10 billion to the Central Jakarta District Court and Jakarta High Court as well as Rp6 billion to the Supreme Court, of which Rp5 billion was to go to Manan and the remaining Rp1 billion was to be divided among other Supreme Court officials, he said. Manan denies the allegations, describing them as a desperate move by someone who could face a severe sentence if convicted. Probosutedjo has neither been detained, nor declared a suspect.
Munarman, a director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (LBHI), said corruption in the country's judiciary system is rampant, affecting about 60% to 70% of court officials. He said corruption kicks in "when someone reports a case to the police who then submit it to the prosecutors until the case reaches the court and there is the wait for a verdict", he explained.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Commission, set up to supervise judges and put a stop to rampant corruption in the courts, has demanded that Manan step down. Its chairman, Busyro Muqqodas, said Manan must do the honorable thing and resign because he had been linked to the Supreme Court's "judicial mafia".
The KPK works in tandem with a special anti-corruption court established to fast-track sensitive cases. The two have been busy.
The court in April sentenced the governor of Aceh, Abdullah Puteh, to 10 years in prison in a graft case involving the purchase of a Russian-made helicopter. KPK investigators caught his lawyer red-handed allegedly trying to bribe two court clerks of the Jakarta High Court to get the sentence reduced.
Also, the chairman of the Elections Commission (KPU) and its treasurer are on trial for receiving kickbacks from companies that won tenders to supply election materials. And the former minister for religious affairs is on trial for a scandal involving state funds for the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
The commission is also investigating serious graft cases in state-owned enterprises including the oil and gas giant, Pertamina; the electricity utility, PLN; the insurance company, PT Jamsostek; the cement firm, PT Pupuk Kaltim; the State Secretariat; the Ministry of Defense; and the Ministry of Health. A crude oil smuggling ring involving Pertamina officials allegedly siphoned off massive quantities of oil costing the state Rp8.8 trillion ($850 million) in losses a year.
Illegal logging, allegedly involving some elements of the police and military, caused estimated losses of Rp15 trillion a month – Rp180 trillion a year alone in the province of Sumatra.
An internal audit at the Agriculture Ministry has found suspected corruption in the provision of vaccines to fight the bird flu outbreak, which has killed at least 14 people in the country. Losses from graft relating to vaccines were put at almost Rp57 billion after four companies assigned to produce bird flu vaccines allegedly, with the complicity of senior government officials, produced doses of inferior quality to inflate profits.
Since assuming power Yudhyono has approved investigations into alleged corruption cases involving almost 40 regents. On Monday he suspended the Banten governor indefinitely to facilitate his prosecution in a corruption case.
Also on Monday, the former CEO and two other ex-directors of the giant state-controlled, Bank Mandiri – Indonesia's biggest bank – went on trial on corruption charges in a case that forms a central plank of Yudhoyono's campaign against graft. They have been detained since May amid ongoing investigations into dodgy loans from the bank to several local companies.
Despite this, KPK Chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said: "The commission is very disappointed with the government's efforts to prevent corruption. Its efforts and its determination have yet to show progress."
One problem is the apparent lack of coordination among the various law enforcement and legal institutions tasked with combating corruption. Anwar Nasution, chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), said the apparent slow progress in the fight against corruption and the fact many corruption suspects managed to flee the country were mainly due to weak coordination among law officers and a shortage of professional investigators.
Institutions, including the National Police, the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the KPK and the BPK should cease what he described as "civil war among themselves" if the efforts to curb corruption were to bear fruit, he said.
Nasution made his comments last week at the opening of a week-long government workshop to devise strategies to curb corruption. Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh helped prove his point by failing to show up at the workshop.
Watchdog groups such as German-based Transparency International have consistently rated Indonesia as among the most corrupt nations in the world.
Yudhyono's closest confidante, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, said the president acknowledged the anti-corruption drive was still far from achieving its goal and promised to speed up efforts.
Yudhoyono remains a popular president, with 63% of Indonesians satisfied with his performance in running the country, a new survey by the Indonesian Research Institute (LSI) reports. However, the survey was completed in late September, before the latest fuel-price hikes and the most recent Bali bombs.
Most of the 1,137 people from 33 provinces interviewed in the survey said the administration had done a good job in eradicating corruption (65.1%), combating crime (76.8%), settling problems with the Free Aceh Movement or GAM (75.9%), health programs (70%) and education (74.7%).
Nonetheless there is clearly a long way to go for this determined president to shake off the Suharto legacy and bring Indonesia's justice system back into line.
[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a journalist. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis in Indonesia.]