Dicky Christanto, Nusa Dua, Bali – An alliance of civil society groups has prepared tougher measures to strengthen its anti-graft campaign against corrupt politicians across the country, ahead of the 2009 legislative elections.
The alliance said measures would include issuing lists of politicians implicated, charged or convicted of corruption and publicize it nationwide before the elections, slated for April 2009.
The black lists of politicians are expected to raise awareness among the public so as not to elect candidates who have been involved in corruption practices, it said.
The alliance comprises Transparency International Indonesia (TII), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Partnership for Governance Reform and many other local non-governmental organizations attending an international anti-corruption conference in Nusa Dua, Bali.
The alliance also said the lists would be an effective means to stop the nomination of corrupt candidates and to give their constituents a political guide, so they would only vote for those with clean track records.
"The main reason is because we see that most of the incumbent legislators are those with strong relations with the country's old forces, which according to us, are very corrupt," TII secretary general Rizal Malik said Thursday.
He said corrupt legislators were often hampering efforts to pass regulations with clear integrity.
Rizal said the plan to issue the black lists was triggered by last year's failure of the House of Representatives to select five new members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), with clear track records.
The election of KPK chairman Antasari Azhar and members Bibit Samad Rianto, Mohammad Yasin, Hariyono and Chandra Hamzah drew protests from anti-graft activists.
They specifically accused Antasari and Bibit of being tainted with corrupt practices. Bibit is the former East Kalimantan police chief while Antasari is a former senior prosecutor for the Attorney General's Office.
The House was publicly slammed for naming corruption suspect Syamsul Bahri as one of seven new members of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Syamsul's inauguration for his new post was suspended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pending his graft trial at the Malang District Court, East Java.
Recently, the President and House leaders held a consultative meeting to discuss this issue and agreed to decide on Syamsul's KPU membership after a court verdict.
Rizal said the lists would be distributed, particularly in regions where political parties would nominate their legislative candidates, in cooperation with local NGOs.
The alliance said it would also organize public hearings aimed at educating people about clean politics.