A Corruption-Friendly State
KPK have successfully ensnared hundreds of corrupt state officials, including in the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
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A Kompas survey held on June 7-9, 2017, revealed that Indonesia’s largest problems included corruption (42.8 percent), law enforcement (17.7 percent), poverty (12.9 percent) and ethnic, religious, race and intergroup (SARA) relations (10 percent). The things that caused backwardness in Indonesia included spreading corruption (26.9 percent), a worsening economy (22.7 percent), a biased legal system (12.6 percent), foreign control of natural resources (8.4 percent) and increasing SARA conflicts (8.4 percent).
On the other hand, a Transparency Indonesia survey on businesspeople revealed that 60 percent of respondents viewed corruption as not an important issue.
Public opinion that corruption is among the nation’s largest problems and that it has created setbacks is not seen as deterrent by corrupt officials. Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrest operations have successfully ensnared hundreds of corrupt state officials, including in the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
The e-ID case caused more than Rp 2 trillion (US$148 million) in state losses and involves many sitting state officials. It raises questions about how easy it is for state officials and lawmakers to grab state money in such huge amounts.
Thus far, the common definition for corruptors is those alleged to be involved in corruption cases who are arrested and subsequently proven guilty. Those involved in corruption cases but are neither arrested nor proven to have been involved in corrupt activities are not seen as corruptors. It is understandable, then, that many believe that those who are arrested only represent the tip of an iceberg, with many more corruptors still untouched by the law. The number of these corruptors who still wander freely may hugely outnumber those who have been arrested.
Setya Novanto felt neither shame nor guilt when he tried to evade the KPK’s summons, until eventually he was involved in a traffic accident.
Why do state officials continue to be involved in corrupt activities? In my opinion, corrupt officials (along with businesspeople involved) no longer have any shame, guilt or fear of God. No corruption suspect arrested by KPK has ever been seen to be ashamed in front of television cameras.
Setya Novanto felt neither shame nor guilt when he tried to evade the KPK’s summons, until eventually he was involved in a traffic accident. They only fear being stripped of their wealth. With only light sentencing and without their wealth being stripped away, they will still be able to enjoy their illicitly obtained money once they are released from jail.
Another reason is because Indonesians are just too friendly toward corruptors. There has never been any known social punishment for corruptors or alleged corruptors or officials with known fat bank accounts. The public remains respectful toward them. Furthermore, we have never been successful in resolving cases of alleged corruption involving our high-ranking state officials in the past.
Other countries’ experience
In South Korea, president Syngman Rhee was forced to resign and later fled to Hawaii in 1960. Chun Doo-hwan who led the country from 1979 to 1988 was sentenced to death. His replacement Roh Tae-woo was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail for corruption and treason. The two leaders were then pardoned in 1997. Kim Yong-sam who ruled from 1993 to 1998 was accused of plunging South Korea into the Asian monetary crisis and watched as his son was sent to jail for trading official positions.
Kim Dae-jung, who ruled between 1998 and 2003, received a Nobel Prize for his soft approach to North Korea but his son destroyed that reputation after he received bribes from businesspeople. Roh Moo-hyun ruled from 2003 to 2008 and killed himself in 2009 amid allegations that his family members had received bribes and his older brother was sentenced in the same year.
In early November 2017, Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammad bin Salman arrested a large number of the Ibnu Saud extended family.
Lee Myung-bak, the country’s leader from 2008 to 2013, was shamed by his only son and two brothers, who swindled funds intended for the poor.
This year, president Park Geun-hye, the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, was impeached and is facing a life sentence. She repeated the tragic mistake of her father, who was murdered by his own intelligence chief at a party in 1979 amid widespread criticism that Pak Chung-hee ruled as a dictator.
In early November 2017, Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammad bin Salman arrested a large number of the Ibnu Saud extended family. Prince Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah, one of the sons of the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, is reported to have requested asylum from France. His older brother Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, commander of the National Guard, was arrested in early November on corruption allegations. Afterward, it was reported that Prince Miteb was released after he was willing to return around US$1 billion to the state coffers.
The Saudi Arabian Supreme Court has stated that it has frozen bank accounts belonging to 367 clients. The government has also banned private planes from flying abroad. Most of the country’s 320 princes, ministers and former ministers who were arrested chose to compromise by returning their wealth and assets to the government. It is expected that the Saudi Arabian government will obtain between $50 billion and $100 billion from this wealth retrieval.
Is there hope?
Another Kompas survey, held on October 10-13, 2017, revealed that 50.7 percent of respondents felt that plagiarism, corruption and bribery were very rampant and that another 43.1 percent of respondents felt these acts were rampant. Furthermore, 88 percent of respondents agreed that corruption and plagiarism occurred often because there was no deterrent or heavy punishment.
Salahuddin Wahid
Another question was that “is bribery and corruption triggered by people’s propensity for lying?” Some 74.9 percent agreed and 23.9 percent disagreed. Another question was about the level of lying among several groups of people. The response regarding state officials: 10.5 percent of respondents said that state officials were either always or mostly honest, 38.9 percent said that they were either always or mostly dishonest and 45.5 percent said that they were sometimes honest.
Regarding law enforcers: 7.5 percent of respondents said that they were either always or mostly honest, 43.7 percent said that they were either always or mostly dishonest and 45.3 percent said that they were sometimes honest. Regarding religious leaders: 45.7 percent of respondents said that they were either always or mostly honest, 9.3 percent said that they were either always or mostly dishonest and 38.7 percent said that they were sometimes honest.
The KPK was established as the public regarded the police and the prosecutor’s offices as incapable of fighting corruption. Such a view is seemingly in line with results of the above survey that said that only 7.5 percent of respondents deemed law enforcers to be either always or mostly honest. Now, we see a proposal to create a special police anticorruption detachment.
In the past dozen or so years, has there been any meaningful improvement in the nation’s law enforcement that we are convinced of the police’s ability to carry out its duties effectively in a special anticorruption detachment? Public trust levels in the police force are not too high. Will the special anticorruption detachment be able to act independently and professionally in tackling corruption cases involving police personnel?
In the survey on honesty above, regarding students, 9.8 percent of respondents said that they were either always or mostly honest, 36.6 percent said that they were either always or mostly dishonest and 50.5 percent said that they were sometimes honest. We need to make efforts to improve students’ level of honesty, which is far below the level of those either always or mostly dishonest.
SALAHUDDIN WAHID
Leader of Tebuireng Islamic boarding school
