Fighting Corruption with Technology

Yanuar Nugroho

· 7 minutes read

Transparency International Indonesia (TII) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently launched the 2018 Indonesian Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Indonesia has recorded an increase of 1 point in the CPI from 2017, from 37 points to 38 points, indicating an increased perception in being free of corruption. Even though this increase has raised Indonesia seven ranks from 96th in the previous year to 89th, the country still ranks 4th among ASEAN nations after Singapore (85 points), Brunei (63 points) and Malaysia (47 points). It is interesting to explore this increase. Why?

First, TII revealed that the CPI is closely linked to democratic institutions and political rights. A good democratic system has been proven to improve the CPI. Second, even though Indonesia’s grade has not improved in leaps and bounds, it clearly shows improvement, especially in public services as an indicator of the democratic performance of government institutions.

This achievement in the CPI is in line with the latest survey from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI). In December 2018, the LSI released its Anticorruption National Survey on public perceptions of corruption, including the effectiveness of corruption eradication efforts from 2016 to 2018. The survey shows that people have felt the impact from year to year. Corruption has declined in several fields. This data answers the allegation that corruption has increased during the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration.

For example, when people deal with administrative matters in education. Also when they look to complete public administration to process documents like ID cards, family identification cards and passports, or when they want to obtain healthcare services. Likewise when dealing with higher education institutions. Other fields that have also received appreciation from the public include court procedures, public procurement of goods and services, police affairs, export-import procedures at customs and excise offices, seeking government employment and on up to managing government budgets.

Of all the examples the survey asked, the survey respondents concluded that corruption eradication had improved. The highest level of trust was achieved in administrative management in education and public services. The areas that still need improving are building trust in government recruitment processes and in managing government budgets.

Throughout the 4.5 years of the Jokowi-Kalla administration, the government has also completed legislation to accelerate corruption eradication, in particular Presidential Instruction No. 7/2015 and Presidential Instruction No. 10/2016 on Corruption Prevention and Eradication, and Presidential Regulation No. 54/2018 on the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention.

What is interesting? The use of information technology (IT) to fight corruption.

Using technology

The first legislation that the Jokowi-Kalla government issued on corruption eradication that uses IT was Presidential Instruction No. 7/2015. Of the 96 anticorruption actions in this presidential instruction, 31 actions (29 percent) emphasized the use of IT in every measure to prevent and eradicate corruption. Examples include the online passport service, public procurement of goods and services, and efforts to increase non-tax state revenues.

Out of the 31 anticorruption actions in Presidential Instruction No. 10/2016, around 30 percent (9 actions) also use sophisticated technology, ranging from information exchange in tax data, integrated planning and budgeting, and to the implementation of non-cash transactions at all ministries, state institutions and central and regional governments. The broadest application of IT is, of course, in Presidential Regulation No. 54/2018. Four Cabinet ministers and the KPK head signed a joint decree (SKB) under this regulation to establish 11 key actions for preventing corruption. Nine of these 11 actions, or 82 percent, use IT.

With regard to licensing and trade systems, IT is employed in the online single submission (OSS) system, the one map and beneficial ownership system, social assistance and subsidies based on the national identification number (NIK) and food import data integration in the Indonesia National Single Window (INSW) system. Moreover, IT is also employed in public procurement to encourage development of the Goods and Services Procurement Unit, local and sectoral e-catalogs, improving vendor management systems and in consolidating procurements.

In taxation, the tax system and data will be modernized and integrated. Technology will also be optimized to strengthen preventive measures against buying and selling civil/state positions and in strengthening the internal supervision system, as well as digitalizing the justice system.

Last, but perhaps most importantly, it will be used to digitally integrate development planning and budgeting.

Why is national development planning also included in areas prone to corruption? Corruption occurs not only at the stage of purchasing cement and sand, or drugs and syringes, but it is also prone to occur in the planning stage.

For example, when a special economic zone or the location of national strategic projects such as airports, roads, ports, is determined in the planning stage, it is no secret to land brokers who then start speculating and manipulating prices, and playing with planners at central and regional governments; especially if the spatial plans and areas are unclear or open, or they are unmapped. As a result, development is hampered from infrastructure to health, and to education and social welfare.

Therefore, the government has pushed for the One Map Policy and One Data Policy to be the backbones of development planning. Digital development planning with accurate data and maps will create credible planning and results on data and evidence, and prevent overlapping, up to the activity units at the government level. In the end, it will reduce or eliminate unofficial costs, which were difficult to detect before.

We can see the impacts: from the fast construction of infrastructure, to free schools and healthcare treatment, and from the single fuel price to lower commodity prices. It used to be cheaper to import

oranges from China to Jakarta than from Medan. Now that road and port infrastructure have been built and extortion has been eradicated, Medan oranges have begun to recover prices in the Jakarta market.

Policy planning, including the Jokowi-Kalla government’s anticorruption policies, is nothing new in the private sector, which uses enterprise resources planning (ERP). In the government, the Public Goods and Services Procurement Policy Agency (LKPP) functions like the ERP as one of the backbones of modernized procurement.

When the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Finance Ministry approve the Government Work Plan, ministries and agencies submit their procurement needs electronically to the LKPP. Vendors and suppliers register their products with reference to market prices in e-catalogs. Tenders are made online and non-cash payments are made. This has created the procurement e-marketplace.

Future direction

Corruption will probably remain and perpetrators will continue to look for loopholes as initiatives are made in government policy and regulation. With IT, person-to-person interactions are minimized among the parties of each government project and related activities. IT fills or reduces loopholes to mitigate corruption. The challenge is how to use IT more broadly, down to the lowest level of the bureaucracy that generally serves and deals with people.

If viewed from the direction the Jokowi-Kalla government has taken in its policy on corruption prevention and eradication, applying IT has and will become the most important aspect in the future. Why? In Industry 4.0, the government is expected to be more democratic and have more public trust, while public services are expected to be easier, cheaper, less complicated, and free from corruption and extortion.

"It is not the gun, but the man behind the gun that matters." It is not the technology that matters, but the person behind it that determines its use. President Jokowi has led the drive in formulating policies for the prevention and eradication of corruption. Today, he is valuable capital as well as a key figure in curing this republic from one of the diseases that has been deeply rooted for decades.

Yanuar Nugroho

Deputy II Chairman of Presidential Staff of the Republic of Indonesia

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