Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Public doubt and skepticism of the government's anti-corruption moves were contributing to the downfall of programs meant to combat graft, a conference heard Thursday.

"Since the 1950s, Indonesia has established anti-corruption bodies but they have always been weak," historian Anhar Gongong told the "Corruption and Culture" seminar.

Anhar said corruption was rooted in Indonesia's culture and took various forms. "To earn a bit of money through wrongful means is part of the culture. We know that some people here used to keep tuyul (small genies that stole money) in order to be rich," he said.

He added that the main problem that was undermining corruption eradication moves was the fact that the state bodies established to fight it were corrupt themselves. "So is it possible to end corruption?" he said.

The government has long been criticized for lacking the political will to support the state bodies tasked with ending corruption, while police and prosecutors are generally regarded as corrupt.

A study conducted by a student from the Institute for Police Studies found that all sectors of the police force were touched by corruption, Anhar said.

A survey released last week by corruption monitors Transparency International Indonesia found that most Indonesians believe the House of Representatives, the police and the judiciary are the most corrupt institutions in the country.

Only 29 percent of Indonesians said they thought the government was serious in its moves to combat corruption.

The Corruption Eradication Commission has also been criticized for its methods. Observers have said that its selection of targets is discriminatory and many people have lost confidence in the commission's ability to fight corruption.

Father Benny Susetyo of the Indonesian Council of Bishops agreed with Anhar, telling the seminar that corruption had become endemic in society while the political system made those in power more corrupt. "Corruption is caused by the massive concentration of power in decision-makers who do not have any direct responsibility to the people," he said.

Benny was not hopeful that corruption would be easily wiped out as long as the law was still being used by the politicians, who were frequently controlled by their business interests.

"It is possible for Indonesians to commit corruption legally," he said. "It happens when the state makes legislation that accommodates the interests of bribers." Benny said the role of religion should also be taken into account in assessing why people tend to be corrupt.

In third world countries with strong religious backgrounds, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, corruption is pervasive, he noted "People here tend to think that they are purified if they donate to charity, even though they are corrupt," Benny added.

The seminar was sponsored by the United States Embassy and the University of Atmajaya. During the event the Indonesian language versions of two books, Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences and Reform by Susan Rose-Ackerman and Culture Matters: How Value Shape Human Progress by Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, were launched.