JAKARTA, KOMPAS - Leadership in the regions is a decisive factor in improving the government’s efforts to minimize the potential for corruption. However, it is not easy to find regional leaders who are committed to eradicating corruption.
The arrests of a number of regional leaders by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) indicate the real condition in the regions. On Wednesday, the KPK again arrested Cianjur Regent Irvan Rivano Muchtar on alleged corruption pertaining to the special allocation of funds at the education agency in Cianjur regency. He became the 27th regional head to be arrested by the KPK this year.
In the midst of the trial of a number of regional heads, there are a few regional heads who have shown strong commitment to eradicating corruption. However, their tenure is limited, a maximum of 10 years. The anticorruption program must be institutionalized so that it will not stop when the regional heads with a strong anticorruption commitment end their terms.
The institutionalization of anticorruption programs is also needed so that the program can spread into other regions. In addition, in order to encourage efforts to prevent corruption and improve the system, the KPK needs to coordinate and supervise the local governments in implementing the programs.
However, not all regions can make similar achievements in their development programs. Based on data from the KPK’s information system, there are five provinces where development plan implementation reached 60 percent or above. The five provinces are Jakarta (72 percent), Gorontalo (68 percent), Central Java (67 percent), West Java (64 percent), and South Kalimantan (60 percent). At the same time, the implementation in nine provinces was below 30 percent.
Leadership
Researchers from the Syarif Hidayat Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta said Wednesday that leadership was an important factor that determined the success of anticorruption programs carried out through the improvement of governance. This is because the patron-client relationship still exists in bureaucratic culture in Indonesia. "In this case, if the leader is corrupt, it can be used as a justification for his subordinates to do the same thing," he said.
This condition is not ideal because the patron-client relationship can affect the sustainability of the government’s populist program and the efforts to eliminate the potential for corruption, if the regional heads complete their term of office.
Regarding this matter, the chairman of the Gadjah Mada University Anticorruption Study Center, Oce Madril, said it was not enough to just rely on regional heads in corruption eradication. Corruption prevention systems also need to be institutionalized.
This institutionalization can be done in the regions, for example by issuing regional regulations to prevent corruption. Thus, a corruption prevention system will remain even if the regional head is no longer in office.
Another way, said Oce, is that the central government introduces a legal basis to be applied in the regions. This legal basis can be made by adopting the best practices that local governments have made in preventing corruption and use it as a national policy.
The central government also needs to establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the legal foundation is adhered to by all local governments. "The supervisor can be from the KPK or it can be from the inspectorate in each local government. Related to this, it is important to make the inspectorate independent, no longer under the regional heads," he explained.
Djohermansyah Djohan,a professor at the Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), also encouraged the central government to introduce a pilot project on the establishment of good local governments so that it can be replicated by other regions. The pilot project should not only cover the executive branch, but also the legislature.
Lecturer in criminal law at Parahyangan University, Agustinus Pohan, said that the prevention of corruption is not enough if it is only carried out systemically, but also must change culture and ways of thinking about corrupt behavior. This is because corruption in Indonesia is also triggered by culture and mentality.
Related to this, efforts to prevent corruption must also be carried out earlier, such as by instilling anti-corruption culture in schools. This is because corruption in Indonesia is considered normal by the people. (AGE/APA/REK/GAL)