Camelia Pasandaran & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – So at what point did the public decide that enough was enough?
Indonesia has long been one of the world's most corrupt countries. The scourge that has contributed to so much suffering has largely been tolerated by the people – at least until Wednesday.
Traditionally, anti-graft commemorations have mostly been formal occasions organized by state institutions and attended by government dignitaries, often the very bodies or individuals perpetuating the corruption. Even the small-scale street protests typically involved the usual suspects, namely anti-graft activists and students.
In stark contrast to previous years since the end of the Suharto era, International Anti-Corruption Day on Wednesday was marked by rallies involving thousands of demonstrators in a number of cities across the country, under the watchful eyes of domestic and international media organizations.
Rallies in Jakarta, Makassar, Padang and other cities involved individuals from a range of different backgrounds, including academics, farmers, fishermen, housewives and street performers.
What had changed to bring these people into the streets?
Danang Widoyoko, of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the answer was simple: the arrests of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah – in what the Constitutional Court said was a conspiracy by law-enforcement agencies to weaken the nation's only respected anti-graft agency – and the murky state bailout of PT Bank Century.
Danang said people were also taking out their frustration with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had been overwhelmingly re-elected to office on an antigraft platform.
"We [now] doubt his commitment to stamp out graft," Danang said. "Yudhoyono got votes from many of us due to his anti-graft campaign. But the two cases showed us that he could not play the key role to lead the national anti-graft drive."
He reiterated the widespread public belief that there had been a systematic government attempt to weaken the feared KPK and Anti-Corruption Court, including the opaque approval process of KPK members by the House of Representatives, the House's refusal to approve the KPK's budget and its efforts to roll back the KPK's powers.
The court and KPK have successfully investigated, prosecuted and jailed figures who previously stole from their nation without fear, including police officers, former ministers, sitting legislators and wealthy businessmen. Only members of Indonesia's notoriously corrupt judiciary have so far remained free of the KPK's grasp.
After warning for two days that the protests would be infiltrated by agitators planning to topple him, on the eve of the rallies Yudhoyono struck a more conciliatory – or perhaps politically sensible – note. He declared a "jihad" on corruption and vowed to stamp it out. In the same breath he gave his unequivocal backing to the KPK.
Airlangga Pribadi, a political observer from Airlangga University in Surabaya, said the rallies sent a strong message to Yudhoyono: zero tolerance for corruption.
"There are two things the president can do to regain our trust: bring Anggodo to justice and ensure the investigations of the Century case run smoothly," he said, referring to Anggodo Widjojo, a controversial businessman allegedly at the heart of the attack on the KPK.
Teten Masduki, of Transparency International Indonesia, also blasted Yudhoyono for trumpeting the nation's slight improvement in this year's corruption index.
"The ranking for our country is under three, meaning that we're in the same group as the most corrupt nations in the world. Don't overly praise it, because it is still a small achievement."
He added that given the attacks on the KPK, Indonesia would likely drop down the index next year.