Corrupt practices are often inseparable from purchasing luxury goods for either personal use or to give as bribes.
By
EDITOR
·3 minutes read
Hermès bags, Old Navy shirts, Rolex and Jacob & Co. watches, TUMI bags, Louis Vuitton suitcases and shoes, as well as a Specialized S-Works bicycle.
These are some of the luxury goods belonging to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo and his wife Iis Rosita Dewi that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) seized during a sting operation on Wednesday (25/22/2020) upon the couple’s arrival from the United States to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
There is nothing wrong with owning luxury goods that carry exorbitant price tags. The Specialized S-Works bike, for instance, costs US$11,000, or about Rp 156 million. The problem lies in the fact that these goods were allegedly purchased using illicit money that Edhy had accumulated throughout the year from bribes pertaining to export permits for lobster larvae. The KPK suspects that a Rp 3.4 billion bank transfer from a private company was intended to cater to the personal interests of Edhy, his wife and two of his special staffers. Some of the bribe money was reportedly used to shop for luxury goods between Nov. 21 and 23 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Corrupt practices are often inseparable from purchasing luxury goods for either personal use or to give as bribes. In Korupsi: Melacak Arti, Menyimak Implikasi (Corruption: Tracking Meaning, Pondering Implications), B. Herry Priyono explains how corruption had been practiced for thousands of years before Christ.
Timagoras initially traveled to Persia to negotiate an alliance between Athens and Persia in an effort to curb the kingdom of Thebes, which bordered Athens to the north.
The story of Timagoras, an Athenian envoy who conspired with Pelopidan, an emissary of the King of Thebes, during negotiations in 367 BC in Ancient Greece, is one of the many examples mentioned in the book. Timagoras initially traveled to Persia to negotiate an alliance between Athens and Persia in an effort to curb the kingdom of Thebes, which bordered Athens to the north.
However, Timagoras ended up unequivocally supporting Pelopidan’s view in exchange for luxury goods: the King of Thebes gave Timagoras an expensive sofa, 80 cattle and 80 sheep. Upon his return to Athens, Timagoras was taken to court for accepting the bribes and sentenced to death. His decision to accept the luxury gifts was perceived as betraying the common interest. Timagoras was also deemed to have betrayed the state.
While 2,387 years have passed since Timagoras’ treachery, corruption continues to prevail today and has even adopted more sophisticated schemes. While Indonesia’s Corruption Perception Index has improved since 2012, corruption and corrupt practices may never completely disappear from the world.
aAn individual may commit corruption for three reasons: One, because of the system; two, because of urgent needs; while the third is simple greed. The corrupt practices of government officials obviously stem from greed, and not actual need. Their power and wealth are not enough for them.
It is ironic that while millions of fishermen in this maritime nation still number among the country’s poorest, the minister of maritime affairs and fisheries squandered large sums of money – money he gained from bribes in exchange for permits to export lobster larvae – on buying luxury goods in a foreign country.
The elected state officials of the future must not be selfish. They must be willing to devote their lives to the betterment of the people’s welfare, rather than selfish, personal gain.