Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Indonesia needs to have clear-legislation to curb collusion and conflicts of interest among its leaders, which is also a cause for concern for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a corruption watchdog said Monday.
Yudhoyono said last week that the country's economy had been severely affected by collusion between businessmen and state officials.
"Although the public see Yudhoyono's statement as an effort to put pressure on the Golkar Party in relation to its critical stance on the Bank Century bailout, it should be able to pave the way for solving conflicts of interest in Indonesia," Ibrahim Zuhdhi Badoh from the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said.
The Golkar Party at the House of Representatives has been one of the most vocal during hearings of the special committee into the Century bailout. Allegations are rife that parts of the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) bailout were channeled into Yudhoyono's campaign funds in the last presidential election.
Ibrahim said that Yudhoyono's statement must be followed with concrete action, including revising laws that regulated political recruitment.
He highlighted the importance of revising, among others, the 2008 law on regional government, especially articles that regulated the requirements of regional head candidates.
Yudhoyono, he said, also needed to review articles that regulated the requirements of legislative candidates in the 2009 law on the composition of representative bodies.
"These laws must stipulate that regional heads and legislative candidates are not those who run or hold positions in businesses," he said.
The absence of such regulation, he added, had resulted in the House being composed of lawmakers that had backgrounds of owning or running private businesses. "Around 51 percent of House members from the 2009-2014 period come from business backgrounds," Ibrahim said.
The ICW is currently investigating the number of current lawmakers who presently own or run businesses. "We are also determining whether ministers and commissioners of SOEs and regionally owned enterprises are businessmen," he added.
The ICW urged Yudhoyono to review regulations on the appointment of ministers and SOE and regionally owned enterprise commissioners.
Ibrahim, ICW researcher, said collusion practice and conflicts of interest assumed two patterns.
The first involves politicians who double as businessmen. "This allows businessmen to influence public policies, especially on determining budgets," he said.
Collusion practice that uses the second pattern can be found at presidential elections. "[Businessmen and politician relations] can be built through election campaign fund donations," he said.
"Relations are determined by the donation amount from businessmen or corporations into the bank accounts of political parties or presidential candidates," he said.
Vice President Boediono last week proposed a guideline on state official's business ventures. The National Committee for Government Policy (KNKG) is in charge of composing the guidelines on ethics and behavior of state officials.
KNKG chairman Mas Achmad Daniri told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the process would involve stakeholders including government agencies and businesses.
"This will not be another guideline. It will [regulate] the systems of monitoring and enforcing [state officials'] code of conduct," he said.