Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and Industry Minister Fahmi Idris are now much richer than they used to be. On Friday the ministers updated their wealth figures with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Mulyani's total wealth surged from Rp 2.11 billion and $234,844 to Rp 4.39 billion and $324,023 while Fahmi went from Rp 44.6 billion and $3.139 million to Rp 63.7 billion and $2.3 million.
Mulyani's wealth more than doubled, which she attributed to increased property values and the inclusion of her husband's wealth. Increases worth noting are her portfolio investments, at Rp 688 million and $44,900, up from Rp 49 million and zero respectively in 2004. Fahmi doubled his property value to Rp 36.7 billion.
Mulyani and Fahmi are among Cabinet members who have complied to the Commission's request to update their wealth reports. As of Friday the KPK said more than half of the ministers had not updated their wealth reports with the Commission eight months after the October 2006 deadline.
The KPK said Friday that it had consistently reminded ministers of the obligation, but were usually told they were "still working on it". State officials must report their wealth before, during and after their tenure, and while they are employed they must make biennial updates.
KPK deputy for graft prevention Sjahruddin Rasul said there was no legal basis to impose punishments on ministers who did not register their assets, although high-ranked civil servants are subject to administrative ones.
"That's what the 1999 Law on Clean Governance, which states this wealth reporting (is required), is lacking. What we do now is wait for them. We've had talks about criminal sanctions, but they're a long way off," he said.
Twenty-two out of the 36 members of cabinet have not updated their wealth figures. This includes both old cabinet members and new ones, including new Communications and Information Minister M. Nuh, who, the KPK said, had never made a wealth report during his years as the Surabaya Institute of Technology rector.
The KPK also is awaiting reports from four former ministers who were dismissed in last month's cabinet reshuffle.
They are former state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra, former attorney general Abdul Rahman Saleh, state minister for state-owned enterprises Sugiharto and former justice and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin, all of whom have until July 9 to make their reports.
The KPK is also looking into Yusril's report after finding in March five transactions, each worth over Rp 100 million (US$11,267), from between 2001 and 2004 when he was justice and human rights minister.
The commission is having problems collecting wealth reports from the wider government bureaucracy as well. State institutions with an obedience level below 50 percent – meaning less than half of senior staffers had not reported their assets – include the Education Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Attorney General's Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Bank Indonesia, the Trade Ministry and the Office of the State Minister for Public Housing.
Emerson Yuntho of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said the President, who issued a decree ordering officials to report their wealth, needed to reprimand ministers who were slow to do so.
"The absence of sanctions has led to such reluctance. If the government commits to such reporting for good governance, giving sanctions is essential unless it's been just about selling an image," he said.