Anti-Corruption Becomes Part of Cultural Strategy

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Suspect Iswahyu Widodo, a judge of the South Jakarta District Court, wears a detainee jacket after being quizzed by investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta on Thursday (29/11/2018). Iswahyu and four other people were apprehended in an operation across South Jakarta. Iswahyu is believed to have accepted bribes in connection with a civil case he was handling.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The various technocratic efforts made to combat corruption, such as through legal and policy approaches, will be unable to produce a corruption-free society if they are not supported by a broad pedagogical approach.

Efforts to eradicate corruption should be integrated into a long-term, continoust cultural and education strategy.

In connection with this, anti-corruption education is to be taught at all levels of education starting July 2019. Anti-corruption education will be included in classes related to character education as well as in additional general courses. The values taught in the anti-corruption education are expected to develop an anti-corruption culture. However, a consistent and intensive effort is necessary to realize this aim.

"The most important thing (in anti-corruption education) is that students accept what is called ‘integrity viruses’. So, it not only relates to cognitive education, but also character development, " Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Saut Situmorang said on Tuesday (12/11/2018) in Jakarta, after a national coordination meeting on the implementation of anti-corruption education.

Also present at the meeting were Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Mohamad Nasir, and Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy.

Saut said the KPK would be providing guidebooks on anti-corruption values in the implementation of the anti-corruption education.

Muhadjir added that anti-corruption education would be included in subjects related to character education or civic education. "We already have a program to develop character education, [and] one of its points is integrity or honesty. This would serve as an entry point for anti-corruption education to be implemented in schools," he said.

According to Nasir, anti-corruption education would be included in general courses especially at universities. Anti-corruption education would complement the efforts that had been made to eliminate corruption in Indonesia, such as establishing the KPK.

The National Police and the Attorney General\'s Office also handle corruption cases. In terms of prosecution, the KPK has indicted 915 individuals from 2014 to Sept. 30, 2018. The KPK has also implemented an integrated preventive measure with law enforcement agencies to mitigate corrupt behavior. The KPK works with local administrations across the country through coordination and supervision of the corruption prevention program, which comprises eight forms of intervention, including budget planning and allocation, procurement of goods and services and one-stop integrated services.

Intensive

Driyarkara philosophy lecturer Herry Priyono said that combating corruption through pedagogy would require a long-term, intensive effort to ingrain anti-corruption habits. In the least corrupt areas of the world, such as Scandinavian countries, these habits are instilled in children even during play.

Meanwhile, the executive chairman of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, Arief Rachman, stressed that it was not enough for anti-corruption values to be internalized only at the teaching level, and that it must also be internalized in national education.

"For teaching, the goal is [for the students] to pass the [national] examination. However, education is the internalization of values. It is possible that people pass the test, but they do not possess good morals. The weakness in our education system remains in the teaching stage," he said.

Gadjah Mada University law lecturer Zainal Arifin Mochtar said that eradicating corruption required consistency, because corruption could not be tackled only through temporary programs. Other countries, such as Hong Kong, took around 30 years from 1974 to the early 2000s to succeed in suppressing corruption.

Corruption eradication efforts also needed state support. "Eradicating corruption must be done through various means that work hand in hand. To make this happen requires the commitment of various state institutions in the executive, legislature and judiciary," he said. (REK/GAL/BOW/NSA/IAN