Political Breakthrough Needed

That several members of the Regional Legislative Council were named as corruption suspects is a warning. A political breakthrough is needed ahead of the 2019 general elections to prevent a repeat occurrence.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Agus Rahardjo (right), accompanied by KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah, speaks during a press conference on Tuesday (3/4) at the KPK’s Jakarta headquarters. The KPK announced that 48 councilors and former councilors in North Sumatra of the 2009-2014 and 2014-2019 terms had been named as suspects in the bribery case involving former North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — A number of DPRD members have again been named as corruption suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Anticipatory measures must be readied so the upcoming general elections can produce public representatives of better quality that are clean of corruption.

The latest corruption case follows several prior cases that have involved many members of the House of Representatives (DPR). Their illicit methods are relatively similar and generally involve bribery in the deliberation of the regional budget (APBD).

In the latest cases, the KPK named 18 members of the Malang City Council and 38 members and former members of the North Sumatra provincial DPRD as corruption suspects.

Earlier in 2017, three speakers of the Mojokerto City Council were prosecuted under similar charges. Six members of the Musi Banyuasin DPRD and seven members of the North Sumatra DPRD were also prosecuted in similar cases in 2016.

According to the KPK’s data, 122 regional legislative councilors have been prosecuted for corruption since the commission’s establishment.

"We always advise that representatives should be selected upon their track records. In the regions, their track records are more widely known," KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said on Tuesday (3/4/2018) at the KPK’s Jakarta headquarters, during the announcement of the 38 suspects.

To reduce the potential for corruption in legislative institutions, the General Election Commission (KPU) has recommended that former corruption convicts be ineligible for nomination as legislative candidates.

The KPU also proposed that legislative candidates be obligated to report their wealth. However, it is not certain that its proposal, which is to be included in the KPU regulation, will gain approval, as it is not regulated in Law No. 7/2017 on the General Elections (Kompas, 3/4/2018).

Political costs

KPK deputy chairman of prevention Pahala Nainggolan said that increasing the integrity of political parties was key to preventing corruption in the deliberation of regional budgets. High political costs, such as campaign expenditures, had led DPRD members to misuse their authority and exploit the opportunity for bribery by colluding with the executive branch.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Syamsuddin Haris was also of the view that the corruption issue concerned the quality of political parties. "Political party leaders or the party elite do not have a vision on how to develop the region or how to enforce clean government. Their focus is only on covering political expenditures. The question is, can [corruption] be eliminated without addressing the political parties?" he said.

However, party leaders, who were expected to drive political party reform, did not all have good intentions in addressing the issue surrounding political parties. The parties had not improved their systems for regeneration or recruitment, their ethical standards or financial management. These four weak elements of political parties contributed to the political system’s vulnerability to acts of corruption and rent-seeking to meet the demands of the political elite.

Under such conditions, civil society and the mass media played an important role in cooperating to ensuring party reform. "Without a strong civil society, we will remain like this," said Haris.

In fact, corruption in regional budget deliberations had a tremendous impact. "The impact is remarkable when the regional budgets are abused and enjoyed jointly by the executive and legislative [branches] through collusion. All public service sectors will surely be affected, such as healthcare, education, infrastructure and others," said Haris.

Three patterns

Executive director Robert Endi Jaweng of Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) said three models of executive-legislative ties needed heeding in terms of corruption, such as in the bribery of DPRD members.

The first model, according to Robert, was a collusive relationship, such as in the North Sumatra and Malang cases. In this model, the legislature remained outwardly calm and uncritical of executive policies. "They\'ve been paid, perhaps in advance or will be later, not to pose an opposition. However, in reality, behind the calm is a conspiracy between the executive and the legislative," he said.

The second model was a relationship of conflict between the DPRD and the local government. This model depicted a non-harmonious, discordant relationship between the two parties that made it difficult to reach agreement. Meanwhile, the best model was the third, a collective-collegial relationship, under which checks and balances took place.

Legislative councils have great power in deliberating the regional budgets. They can propose and push forward projects as well as their budgets. If the local government does not fulfill these proposals, a DPRD could threaten to reject the regional budget.

With such conditions, according to Robert, the Home Ministry should play a stronger role in ensuring that regional budget deliberations are held transparently, so no dark corner exists for the executive and legislative powers to “trade” in their interests. This was an urgent need, because the KPPOD’s studies have shown a trend for corruption in regional budgets, even in the frequent pursuit of smaller projects.

"The current target is projects less than Rp 200 million, because the executor of such investment projects is directly appointed, not through an auction. This is dangerous and requires close watch. DPRD members can play [within this figure] because the local government can appoint them directly to execute the project. The demand for a fee of 5 percent to 10 percent [of the investment] is already a commonplace practice," said Robert.

With regard to the North Sumatra DPRD bribery case, the identification of 38 suspects ensued from the 2015 case involving former North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, in which each individual was said to have received Rp 300 million to Rp 350 million.

Twelve regional leaders and local legislators were found guilty of bribery in the case, with up to Rp 43 billion disbursed according to Gatot\'s testimony.

(IAN/WSI/REK)