JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The arrest of Cirebon Regent Sunjaya Purwadisastra has adds to the long list of regional heads implicated in corruption. In the midst of various promises and commitment to eradicate corruption by a number of parties, such as candidates in the 2019 general election, this indicates that no comprehensive solutions have been found to eradicate corruption.
The high cost of politics, the non-transparent recruitment of public officials that is not based on achievement and problems in funding of political parties all leave the door open to corruption.
"If circumstances remain like this, it will be difficult to find a solution to corrupt practices, especially those involving regional heads," said Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Alexander Marwata at the KPK building in Jakarta on Thursday (25/10/2018).
Sunjaya was arrested by the KPK on Wednesday evening for allegedly accepting bribes and gratuities amounting to Rp 6.7 billion. Besides the apparent buying and selling of positions, ranging from village heads to echelon III officials, the money also allegedly came from officials in the Cirebon regency administration and the private sector related to regional development projects.
Corruption cases involving regional heads, said Marwata, generally have the same model. In addition to bribery related to the buying and selling of positions, it is also related to the expenditure of regional budgets.
The director of corruption crimes in the National Police\'s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), Brig. Gen. Erwanto Kurniadi, shared Marwata’s sentiment. “Most regional heads are involved in corruption cases due to the misuse of grant funds and regional budget (APBD) funds,” he said.
In the 2015-2018 period, Bareskrim processed 10 regional heads for alleged involvement in corruption.
Various efforts
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said that various efforts had been made to prevent corruption in the regions. The home minister even involved a number of supervisory institutions to curb corruption in regions, such as the KPK, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), the Supreme Audit Agency, prosecutor\'s offices and the police. However, without integrity on the part of regional heads, these efforts are not expected to run as effectively as possible.
"We have tried to involve various parties to prevent corruption. If all the steps have been taken, how else should this be done?"
Marwata said that eradicating corruption was not easy and took time. This is because the current system in the government and the process of selecting leaders were prone to abuse.
"Our study found that many regional heads, who claimed to be sponsored by certain parties, borrowed capital to compete in regional elections. Outside Java, the cost can be Rp 20 billion to Rp 30 billion. In Java it can be even more. If it is calculated from a legal net income of a regional head for five years, the cost could not be covered," said Marwata.
Under such circumstances, said Marwata, a number of efforts to prevent corruption, such as using an online system in budgeting and the procurement of goods and services, will not necessarily solve the problem. This is because the system is vulnerable to manipulation when the private sector and government officials meet to collude.
In order to stop corruption, said Marwata, improvements must also be made in the system of funding political parties and the recruitment of candidates for legislators and candidates for regional heads by political parties. The new system must be transparent and make personal achievement and quality the main considerations in the selection and recruitment of public officials.
Promises
Amid the number of corruption cases in the regions, candidates contesting the 2019 general election continue to promise to eradicate corruption.
NasDem Party general chairman Surya Paloh said the arrests of a number of people on corruption charges showed the commitment of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo\'s government to eradicate corruption. "As head of state, head of government, Pak Jokowi could say stop (actions against corruption perpetrators), but he hasn\'t, has he? This proves that Pak Jokowi is committed to eradicating corruption," he said. That commitment, he further said, will continue to be upheld by Jokowi.
The deputy chairman of the campaign team of the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf Amin presidential and vice presidential candidate pair, Abdul Kadir Karding, said the Jokowi government planned a number of other steps to eradicate corruption. In addition to giving flexibility to law enforcement officials to take action against those who commit corruption, efforts to eradicate corruption will also be carried out by improving the corruption prevention system.
Meanwhile, coordinator of the "national winning team" of Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno pair, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, said strengthening the KPK would be one of Prabowo-Sandiaga\'s programs in combating corruption.
He said reform would also be carried out in other law enforcement agencies. "For the attorney general position, for example, the chosen figure should not have political interests."
He added that bureaucratic reform would be carried out to build a stronger anti-corruption prevention system.
(IAN/APA/SAN/NAR/WIN/RTG/E16/WER/BOW)
