Indonesia's anti-corruption heroes
By Megawati Wijaya
JAKARTA - Indonesia's anti-corruption drive has seen unprecedented numbers of
politicians and high-ranking government officials convicted in recent months.
The resurgent Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has transfixed the
nation's public as it aggressively pursues powerful political figures, and even
plans to take on the House of Representatives.
The man behind the anti-graft campaign, KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, has in the
past eight months overseen arrests on corruption charges of five members of
parliament, a former national police chief and ambassador to Malaysia, a senior
government prosecutor, and three central bank officials, including the
governor. Several of those suspects have already been
convicted in the KPK's special Corrupt Crimes Court (CCC).
Others could soon be behind bars. Former senior Foreign Ministry official and
ambassador to Singapore, Slamet Hidayat, is standing trial for allegedly
embezzling Rp 8.4 billion (US$900,000) from an embassy fund earmarked for
renovating facilities and housing. Current ambassador to the US and former
Foreign Ministry secretary-general Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat has been called
as a witness and local press reports indicate he may be indicted as a suspect.
Endemic corruption has long dragged on Indonesia's economic development and
taken a heavy toll on foreign investor confidence. Indonesia ranked 143 out of
179 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2007 Corruption
Perception Index, while the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk
Consultancy ranked Indonesia third, trailing only the Philippines and Thailand
in a survey of Asia's most corrupt economies. Indonesia slipped two spots down
to 129 in the World Bank's most recent "ease of doing business" survey.
The quasi-independent KPK was established in late 2003 and tasked with
restoring investor confidence in the rule of law by cleaning up the country's
notoriously rampant graft levels. The 550-member body, which boasts 30 police,
25 prosecutors, 50 investigators and a special court, has unusually
wide-ranging powers, ranging from naming corruption suspects, making arrests
and summoning political office holders and high-ranking officials to testify in
cases.
The KPK also has the authority to take over cases that have stalled with the
police or state prosecutor's office and can ask the president to suspend
officials under investigation to facilitate prosecution and access their
personal bank accounts. Under Azhar's nine-month tenure, the KPK has captured
the national imagination through its pursuit of some of the country's most
powerful political figures.
Since December, the body has recovered over Rp 400 billion of pilfered state
funds. Last month it even launched a preliminary investigation into the
judiciary's alleged misuse of court fees. Since its inception in 2004, the CCC
has reached verdicts quicker and with a higher conviction rate and longer
sentences than the normal court system, which is known among investors for is
meandering ways and susceptibility to corruption and political interference.
Politics of corruption
At the same time, the KPK's intensified prosecutions have coincided with a dip
in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's popularity ahead of next year's
parliamentary and presidential elections. Perceived endemic official corruption
ranks among voters' top gripes, according to opinion polls.
Azhar is well known for his strong independent streak and plays up his drive
for greater official transparency and justice with flair. During a recent
presentation at Indonesia's embassy in Singapore, he proudly announced his Rp
62 million annual salary - before 35% government taxes are paid, he reminded
the audience.
Under Azhar's predecessor, Taufiequrachman Ruki, the KPK came under heavy
criticism for being understaffed, underfinanced and disproportionately netting
opposition politicians when it did act. For instance, the 2007 arrest and
imprisonment of Widjanakaro Puspoyo, chairman of the National Logistic Agency
(Bulog), on corruption charges led to opposition recriminations of a political
witch-hunt.
Puspoyo was a card-carrying member of the main opposition Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the day after he was charged he was replaced by
Mustafa Abu Bakar, a prominent member of the military-linked Golkar party,
which is now strongly represented inside Yudhoyono's ruling coalition.
Similar protests were lodged last year when the KPK detained Suwarna Abdul
Fatah, a PDI-P politician and governor of East Kalimantan, for allegedly
illegally granting a land-concession permit to a private company to clear more
than a million hectares of state land for an oil-palm project. The PDI-P-led
opposition claimed his detention while still on trial represented a double
standard, as Golkar politician, Nurdin Halid, was left free during his KPK-led
trial on charges of misappropriating funds.
Azhar's stewardship, too, has been dogged by controversy, particularly for its
investigative and prosecutorial methods. The KPK has used evidence collected
from wire-tapping telephones, which is legally permissible under the 2002 KPK
law, to make certain high profile arrests. These include the charges
successfully brought against former Attorney General Urip Tri Gunawan, who was
caught on the telephone accepting $660,000 in bribes from a businesswoman
attempting to end an investigation into a misappropriation of Bank Indonesia
(BI) liquidity support funds.
According to case documents, Gunawan told the businesswoman on the phone that a
decision in BI's favor was secured, and that his verdict would say, "After
investigating for so long, there is no evidence of any violations of the law."
Gunawan was sentenced on September 4 to a 20-year jail term, while the
businesswoman received five years behind bars. Now the KPK has hinted it might
widen the bribery case investigation to include attorney general office
investigators.
Other criticism has surrounded the KPK's use of humiliation tactics against
corruption suspects, including a requirement they wear a special prisoner
uniform and have their hands cuffed during prosecution or when appearing in KPK
courts. The purpose of the garb, Azhar says, is to uphold accepted norms of
"equality before the law" and supporters of the policy hope the public loss of
face will deter other potential corruptors. Critics meanwhile say the dress
code violates universal innocent until proven guilty standards.
Deep-seated rot
In an interview with Asia Times Online, Azhar brushed the
criticisms aside, arguing that he is fighting to uproot a deep-seated culture
of corruption. The KPK is now working to establish regional CCCs that will
allow for faster investigations and prosecutions at the provincial level.
Currently, provincial corruption cases are handled either through the Jakarta
court or non-specialized regional courts, Azhar said.
He also said the KPK plans to launch a national public awareness campaign aimed
at educating the public about what constitutes corruption, its impacts, and the
possible punishments for complicity. The KPK currently works with
anti-corruption bodies in 114 different countries to share information and ways
to fight against graft, according to Azhar.
After launching investigations into the Finance, Home Affairs, Foreign,
Agriculture and Forestry ministries, state-owned television station TVRI and
the state-run postal service, the KPK has recently turned its investigative
attentions towards the powerful House of Representatives. In that direction,
KPK acting secretary-general Syamsa Adi Sasmita was present at a national
budget discussion meeting in parliament last month.
The KPK's parliamentary scrutiny is exceptional considering the
quasi-independent body's chairman is currently selected by parliament. And
there are indications that lawmakers aim to rein in the KPK's powers as more
politicians both inside and outside the ruling coalition come under scrutiny.
The House Honorary Council's deputy chairman Gayus Lumbun recently said that
the parliamentary commission that oversees laws and human rights would enforce
strict controls in monitoring the KPK's work mechanisms, including its use of
phone-tapping. In April the local press reported that a House commission warned
the KPK against "criminalizing" lawmakers and in a closed-door meeting the
agency's leaders were asked to explain the KPK's recent arrests of legislators
implicated in corruption cases.
The arrests, they complained, were too publicly visible, involving in certain
instances car chases and entrapment schemes in front of the media, according to
the reports. "Why must the KPK go after the legislator and not members of the
executive power?" asked commission chairman and PDI-P politician Trimedya
Panjaitan, according to news reports. "The arrests can be misleading to the
general public who doesn't understand law and might think the House is full of
criminals."
More significantly, Yudhoyono's cabinet last month introduced a provisional
bill to the House aimed at outlining the CCC's future mandate but which some
legal experts fear will compromise the court's future independence and the
sustainability of the KPK's current vigorous anti-corruption drive.
In particular, ministers introduced language which would make the chief justice
of the Supreme Court ultimately responsible for appointing the CCC's judges and
abandon the practice of using ad hoc judges, which have so far shown greater
independence than career judges. In response to a legal challenge to the KPK's
constitutionality, a recent Constitution Court decision required that
parliament must pass a new stand-alone law on the CCC by December 2009.
Judicial review
Previously a director at South Jakarta's Attorney General's Office, Azhar has
run up against several ex-colleagues in his investigations. He emphasized
during his interview with ATol that the KPK does not compete with the police or
the attorney general's office, but rather "acts as a trigger for other bodies
to fight corruption in the country".
Nonetheless, critics contend that the KPK has at times been selective in its
prosecutions and has intentionally let influential corruptors walk free.
National University of Singapore sociology associate professor and Indonesian
political commentator Vedi Hadiz notes for example that former president
Suharto and his famously graft-ridden cronies have oddly eluded KPK trial and
conviction.
The KPK also showed what some viewed as a lack of impartiality when it failed
to prosecute two members of Yudhoyono's cabinet - National Development Planning
Minister Paskah Suzetta and Forestry Minister Malem Sambat Kaban - who also
allegedly took bribes in the BI case. Yudhoyono held a controversial closed
meeting with the two ministers after they were first implicated and the KPK
later cited lack of evidence for letting them off the hook.
At the recent trial of former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, two former
deputy governors, Aulia Pohan and Anwar Nasution, were also implicated, with a
former staff member at the BI's communication bureau, Asnar Ashari, testifying
before the CCC that Rp 31.5 billion disbursements were made to members of the
House of Representatives' Financial Commission with Pohan's consent.
Nasution was alleged to have ordered the destruction of documents concerning BI
fund embezzlement. Both have denied the charges and neither were formally made
suspects in the case.
Critics note that Aulia is the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's eldest son, Agus
Yudhoyono, while Anwar is now head of the powerful government Audit Board.
Azhar said that once a case is opened, the KPK cannot by law stop its
investigations. "KPK is still looking for evidence. The cases will be wound up
eventually if can find enough evidence," he said, referring to the two
officials.
The KPK's latest test comes with the recent discovery of 400 travelers checks
worth a total of Rp20 trillion which were allegedly received by a number of
House members over a five year period spanning 1999-2004. Flagged by
whistle-blower Agus Condro, a House representative with the opposition PDI-P,
the checks are allegedly linked to the election of Miranda Gultom as BI senior
deputy governor in June 2004.
Alleging that he was not the only lawmaker to receive money to vote for Gultom,
Condro has implicated several other PDI-P members and has since been removed
from the House and the party's list of candidates for next year's legislative
election. Azhar told ATol that the KPK will soon open investigations into the
senders, receivers and motives behind the checks.
"The KPK knows what it has to do," said Azhar. "We are working hard to create a
clean government that all Indonesians can be proud of."
Megawati Wijaya is a Singapore-based journalist. She may be contacted at
megawati.wijaya@gmail.com.
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