Make Antibribery Management Mandatory

The implementation of an Indonesian national standard of an antibribery management system must be made mandatory for businesspeople and institutions. This will encourage improvements antibribery practices in Indonesia.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

An anticorruption sticker at Indramayu Regency Hall, West Java, on Tuesday (15/10/2019).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The implementation of an Indonesian national standard of an antibribery management system must be made mandatory for businesspeople and institutions. Without it, we face a slow fight against bribery eradication.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prevention deputy Pahala Nainggolan said Indonesia had just begun to implement a national standard (SNI) based on International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 37001 standard.

In the past five years, Indonesia\'s bribery index score has been relatively stagnant.

“There should be a regulation [requiring companies to implement SNI ISO 37001] or at least the market should be pushed to do it. For instance, only those with proof of implementing antibribery management can take part in government tenders,” Pahala said in Jakarta on Monday (18/11/2019).

TRACE International’s bribery risk index, released this month, places Indonesia at rank 90 out of 200 countries. In the past five years, Indonesia\'s bribery index score has been relatively stagnant.

Stagnation is also found in other indices, such as the World Justice Project’s (WJP) Rule of Law Index. Indonesia’s 2019 Rule of Law index, which includes the absence of corruption among the variables, is at rank 62 out of 126 countries (Kompas, 18/11/2019).

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Defendant Andi Taswin Nur, a former staff member of PT Industri Telecommunications Indonesia (PT INTI), attends a hearing in a bribery case related to the baggage handling system (BHS) project at PT Angkasa Pura Propertindo, at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (18/11/2019).

System

The requirement to implement SNI ISO 37001 is now needed to push the creation of an antibribery system in institutions.

Pahala said this became increasingly important as the central and regional governments have yet to be fully integrated with an online single submission for business permits. This system is important for supporting transparency.

At the same time, Pahala said, Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 16/2018 on government goods and services procurement should also be revised, as the regulation might open a loophole for bribery.

“We wish to send the President a request to revise the Perpres,” he said.

The National Standardization Agency data shows that as of December 2018, only 72 organizations implement an antibribery management system. These includes the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the Upstream Oil and gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) and the Agriculture Quarantine Agency (Barantan).

ANTARA FOTO/Sigid Kurniawan

An Echelon I officer of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Rochmadi Saptogiri (right), wore a detention vest at the building of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after being questioned in Jakarta, Saturday (27/5). The KPK detained four suspects (two from BPK and two from the Ministry of Village, Disadvantaged Region Development and Transmigration) and confiscated cash amounting to Rp 1.14 billion and US$3,000 in a bribery case to get the Unqualified Opinion predicate for the finance reports of the ministry in 2016.

"Omnibus law”

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) head Hariyadi B Sukamdani said bribery occurred because of the multiple interests of involved parties. Bribes can be provided by the government or businesspeople.

Regulation is key. If regulations are made through the right procedures, with their economic and social impacts properly assessed, the chance for corruption may be eliminated.

Omnibus laws, Hariyadi said, could be a solution to make regulations clearer and less complicated.

Separately, Trisakti University criminal law lecturer Abdul Fickar Hajar said antibribery systems built within public services would depend on the integrity and quality of the people who run it.

“No matter how strict the system is, those who manage it are human. We can minimize the risk of bribery by creating regulations or mechanisms that limit the meeting between justice seekers and law enforcers,” he said.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators display Rp 110 million in cash at a press conference on the results of a sting operation on bribery allegations related to a waterway project in Yogyakarta at the KPK building in South Jakarta on Aug. 20. (20/8/2019).

Indonesia Legal Roundtable (ILR) deputy director Erwin Natosmal said antibribery management in law enforcement institutions would be of equal importance with that in the private sector. Law enforcement institutions that are clean from illegal levies and bribery will improve public trust in seeking and accessing justice.

Bribery occurred because of the multiple interests of involved parties.

“Indonesia tries to build an antibribery system in law enforcement and justice. Independent commissions established to supervise law enforcers, such as the Judicial Commission, the Prosecution Commission and the National Police Commission, can be public channels for complaints of illegal levies or bribery. The Indonesian Ombudsman also has a similar role,” Erwin said.

He said the problem was that these supervisory agencies had yet to be effective in creating balances of public services by law enforcement and judiciary institutions. Follow-ups of public reports are not optimal and their reports lack transparency.

“We have supervisory bodies but their authority must be formulated to be more effective. Under the current supervisory system, the bodies exist but the supervising itself seems to be absent,” he said.