Hari Bhaskara and Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The arrest of House of Representatives member Al Amin Nasution for allegedly accepting a bribe is something of a cause celebre for many, but a senior lawmaker admits many legislative members take any chance they can to make some money.
Didik Rachbini, who chairs the House's Commission VI for trade and industry, said self-serving legislators often resorted to threats in pursuit of their own interests. An example of a threat is "If you don't do as we ask, I will make sure future meetings do not work," he told a discussion forum Thursday.
Didik calls this approach "banditry" in his new book Teori Bandit (Bandit Theory), launched at the University of Paramadina, where he is a professor. Banditry is a collective measure by a group of people that has a devastating effect on public interests, the economist said.
This group of people can be members of the House, the bureaucracy or the military, politicians, businesspeople or top government officials. "And because Indonesia is a resource-rich country, the devastating effects of these groups' activities are massive," Didik said.
Andrinof Chaniago of the University of Indonesia, another speaker in the discussion, said it was not unusual for legislators to receive a kind of commission for drafting the budget for a project.
"Legislators may get Rp 250 million (US$27,300) or more for drafting a project worth Rp 2 billion," Andrinof said. He lamented the bandits were becoming more rational over time while society remained stagnant in its level of irrationality.
Didik said he attempted in his book to portray bandits and their activities in a way that would serve as a warning to the nation. Banditry continues to flourish, he said, citing the national budget as a victim.
"What the KPK uncovers is trivial by comparison," Didik said, referring to the Corruption Eradication Commission, which arrested Amin on Wednesday.
Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch said Amin's arrest justified surveys ranking the House among the country's most corrupt institutions. "Al Amin's arrest is only the tip of the iceberg. In this case, we believe some other lawmakers must be involved. In other cases, we don't know how many more legislators have received bribes," Emerson said.
Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on anti-corruption and pluralism, said the Amin case constituted only a small fraction of corruption in the House, and it confirmed allegations the institution was corrupt. "I'm sure more and more lawmakers will be found to have been involved in graft if more investigations are conducted," he said.
Legal expert Denny Indrayana of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta praised the KPK's work but said the commission needed more courage to investigate bigger cases involving more powerful lawmakers, as Amin was only a minor player in the House.