Mataram/Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday a "common language" was essential in the fight against corruption as public officials remain fearful of facing prosecution for erroneous policy decisions.
Yudhoyono and governors from across the country said the absence of a regulation protecting state officials left them liable to prosecution on unfounded corruption charges when their policies failed. The government and legislators have expressed support for legislation to protect officials.
Crackdowns by law enforcers' and anticorruption bodies have discouraged many officials from handling development projects, governors said.
Yudhoyono, addressing the national meeting of governors, called on law enforcers, auditors and the central bank governor to "speak the same language" in dealing with corruption.
"We'll ensure that only those who really do wrong who would be prosecuted. Come and consult with us in Jakarta, but don't let development stall in your area," the President told the governors.
He said many governors were too afraid to disburse development funds and law enforcers needed to be able to differentiate crimes from pure policy mistakes.
"I want the attorney general, the Bank Indonesia governor and the National Police to come up with a common understanding of corruption," he said.
Critics say the plan, which was made public by Vice President Jusuf Kalla last week, would only worsen corruption in the bureaucracy and would be detrimental to the Yudhoyono administration's much applauded anti-corruption drive.
Gorontalo governor Fadel Muhammad said the regulation was vital for all state officials to protect them from overzealous law enforcers who could arrest graft suspects based on a single-source report.
"We need the regulation to give us a sense of security in doing our job," he was quoted as saying by Antara newswire. "It's an open secret that many officials are in trouble only because law enforcers act on one source of information." The governors hoped law enforcers would verify information about alleged corruption by local government officials with supervisory institutions, such as the Regional Supervision Agency.