Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is said to have failed to push for transparency in the financial affairs of regional administrations, although it has arrested many governors, regents and regional councilors since its inception six years ago.

Data from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) shows an increase in suspicious financial reports at the regional level after the KPK was born in 2003, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has said.

"The KPK has been ineffective in rooting out corruption at the regional level despite all the arrests, and also failed to deter corruption when the arrests took place," ICW deputy coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo told participants discussing bureaucratic reform on Friday.

The discussion followed the US embassy's Korupsi dan Pemerintahan book launch, a translation of Susan Rose-Ackerman's Corruption and Government.

According to the BPK data the ICW quoted, the number of reports in the "adverse" category – which contain many questionable points – has increased from 4 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2007.

The number of financial reports under the "no opinion" category has also increased sharply from 2 percent in 2004 to 17 percent in 2007. On the other hand, "unqualified" reports, which are deemed free from suspicious points, have decreased from 7 percent in 2004 to 1 percent in 2007.

"The KPK tends to carry out sporadic, unnecessary actions that are neither effective nor sustainable in the long run," Adnan said.

He cited the KPK's training on corruption prevention as one of the ineffective measures. "During the training, officials were taught the different definitions of corruption. That was unnecessary, because most of them already know what corruption is."

The Commission often skipped areas known to be prone to corruption in their prevention programs, Adnan added. "For example, the KPK dragged all the regional officials in Manado (North Sulawesi) to court for corruption. However, it didn't carry out its corruption prevention program in that area," he said.

KPK Deputy Chandra Hamzah admitted the commission had not been very effective in freeing the country's bureaucracy from corruption.

"It is impossible to get rid of corruption in the bureaucracy on our own," he said. "This calls for administrative reform, which is to be carried out by various elements of the state." (dis)