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Why Indonesia's Anti-Corruption Commission succeeds where others don't

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An exception to the rule? Why Indonesia's Anti-Corruption Commission succeeds where others don't - a comparison with the Philippines' Ombudsman


By Emil P. Bolongaita
Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Issue 2010:4) 34 p.

Anti-corruption agencies have long been a principal strategy to fight corruption in many developing countries. Unfortunately, few of them have produced evident results and they are seen as being rather ineffective. Recently, however, the Corruption Eradication Commission of Indonesia (KPK) seems to have emerged as an exception. Can this success be substantiated and, if so, how can it be explained?

A comparison with another such institution in a very similar neighbouring country – the Office of the Ombudsman of the Philippines – illustrates the KPK’s success especially in investigating and prosecuting corrupt public officials. Why was the KPK, in just five years, able to reach a 100% conviction rate against top officials in all major branches of the Indonesian government, while the Philippine Ombudsman has scored only few convictions in its 20-year history? Part of this success can be explained by considerable investigative powers given to KPK, which the Philippine Ombudsman does not hold. Also, rigorous pre-testing of every prosecution and a highly efficient anti-corruption court contribute to KPK’s success. These and other factors are analysed in this U4 Issue, which concludes with recommendations for donors and governments on the establishment and strengthening of anti-corruption agencies.

https://www.u4.no/publications/an-e...t-a-comparison-with-the-philippines-ombudsman
 
A good lesson for Pakistan. Here NAB has struggled and has not been able to recover the money despite having powers. I think the sincerity comes from the top. Still there is some soft corner in heart of Pakistan establishment for the corrupt. The state seems to be helpless in recovering the robbed wealth by the powerful politicians because bureaucracy and deep state are not sincere or neutral.
 
A good lesson for Pakistan. Here NAB has struggled and has not been able to recover the money despite having powers. I think the sincerity comes from the top. Still there is some soft corner in heart of Pakistan establishment for the corrupt. The state seems to be helpless in recovering the robbed wealth by the powerful politicians because bureaucracy and deep state are not sincere or neutral.

Corruption is a sensitive issue in Indonesia. Once a government is found protecting corrupt officials, the president and the party leading the government will become political pariah in the next election. Thus, presidents normally caved in to public pressures to empower KPK and let the KPK officials make high profile arrests. Moreover, KPK officials are normally hardliners and they are getting good pay.

There were attempts to weaken KPK over the years, but public support to KPK is really high. Any small attempts to limit KPK will be met by thousands of people protesting.
 
Corruption is a sensitive issue in Indonesia. Once a government is found protecting corrupt officials, the president and the party leading the government will become political pariah in the next election. Thus, presidents normally caved in to public pressures to empower KPK and let the KPK officials make high profile arrests. Moreover, KPK officials are normally hardliners and they are getting good pay.

There were attempts to weaken KPK over the years, but public support to KPK is really high. Any small attempts to limit KPK will be met by thousands of people protesting.
A good lesson for Pakistan. Here NAB has struggled and has not been able to recover the money despite having powers. I think the sincerity comes from the top. Still there is some soft corner in heart of Pakistan establishment for the corrupt. The state seems to be helpless in recovering the robbed wealth by the powerful politicians because bureaucracy and deep state are not sincere or neutral.

Not a perfect case but at least they are working and got full support from the public and government
 
Behead about 10-12 corrupt people in D chowk then we will see who has the guts to do corruption
 
Behead about 10-12 corrupt people in D chowk then we will see who has the guts to do corruption

Beheading people head due to corruption is too sadistic and not fair, I prefer cutting hand just like Islamic Law suggested.
 
Much recent article:

How the (Once) Most Corrupt Country in the World Got Clean(er)


Indonesia created an independent body to investigate and prosecute corrupt politicians. It worked—mostly.

JONAH BLANK1:00 AM ET
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Activists hold a rally supporting the KPK at its headquarters in Jakarta in January 2015.DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Political corruption is a fact of life in many countries, and it can be fiendishly difficult to control. The worst offenders, almost by definition, are some of the most powerful figures in their community. Many of the police officers, prosecutors, and judges who might hold them in check owe their job to the very same individuals. It’s a thorny problem, even for countries with well-developed public institutions.

So what does an anti-corruption drive look like when virtually everybody’s on the take?

For decades in Indonesia, the corruption was like the humidity: always there. In Transparency International’s initial ranking, in 1995, of nations’ perceived corruption, Indonesia came in dead last. Last year, it clocked in at 89 out of 180: the first time it ever broke into the top half of the chart. Hardly Denmark (which was first)—but no longer Somalia (last). What lessons can Indonesia teach the rest of us?

When Suharto, the longtime dictator, fell from power in 1998, he left a legacy of corruption that permeated every level of society. He is estimated to have pilfered up to $35 billion during his three decades in power—earning the title of world’s most corrupt leader. His example filtered down from ministers doling out project funds in gilded offices to traffic cops hustling payoffs on dusty street corners. Police seldom investigated even the clearest cases of graft, and prosecutors rarely took even the most winnable cases to court.

Read: Indonesia’s democracy is becoming more conservative

Then, in 2002, the country established the Corruption Eradication Commission, which goes by the local acronym, KPK. The new body would run parallel to the police and the attorney general’s office, and was entrusted with the power to investigate and prosecute any public official for any type of corruption.

While much of its employees’ work involves poring over dry balance sheets, the KPK has in-your-face swag. It is housed in its own building, painted boldly in the colors of the nation’s flag: red as blood, white as truth. Inside, the vibe is that of a tech start-up, and the organization’s record seems as sterling as that of a Silicon Valley unicorn—a conviction rate of nearly 100 percent, and over1,000 corrupt public officials sentenced.


The job of bringing ne’er-do-wells to trial falls to people such as Ferdian Nugroho, a soft-spoken prosecutor from a backwater town in Central Java, who got bored trying two-bit hoodlums and longed for a greater challenge. In a bigger pond he was able to catch bigger fish: Several years after joining the KPK, he netted a shark named Fuad Amin Imron, the regent (an office midway between mayor and governor) of a district on the island of Madura, who’d gobbled up more than $42 million.

“Cash was stuffed everywhere,” Nugroho told me. “Suitcase after suitcase of it. In the cupboard, under the bed.” But that was just a fraction of the take. All those sacks of bills added up to $200,000, but further investigation uncovered $28 million tied up in real estate and another $14 million in laundered bank accounts. Fuad Amin was the grandson of one of the most revered Muslim scholars in the nation—his grandfather was the spiritual mentor of the founder of the world’s largest Islamic organization. “People respected him,” Nugroho said. “And also, they feared him.”


Throughout Indonesia, Madura has a reputation similar to that of Sicily: The people there are blunt, straightforward—and not averse to settling disputes with violence. One NGO worker who started poking around the regent’s business was shot in 2015. The would-be assassin happened to be from the same political party as the regent, and received a sentence of only six months in prison, according to Nugroho.

For a decade, everyone in Fuad Amin’s district knew what he was up to, and nobody said a word to the central authorities. Only after the regent retired (bestowing his office, naturally, to his son), did someone finally find the courage to phone the KPK hotline. Fuad Amin was sentenced in 2017 to 13 years in prison, and his assets were seized.

Read: The world’s most complicated single-day election is a feat of democracy

Despite the successes, anti-corruption work remains dangerous. On a spring day in 2017, the KPK investigator Novel Baswedan was walking home from a mosque when a thug on a motorbike tossed acid in his face. Baswedan survived, but was blinded in one eye. Outside KPK headquarters, a billboard shows a photo of his maimed face and counts the days, hours, minutes, and seconds that have gone by without his attacker being brought to justice. The “days” digits recently blinked to 780. The message is clear: The KPK may not be able to guarantee its staff’s safety, but it won’t let their sacrifices be ignored.

it is widespread, though, the KPK hasn’t always fulfilled that obligation. In 2010, for example, its chairman was sentenced to 18 years in prison for ordering the murder of a business associate who’d been blackmailing him over an extramarital affair with a golf caddy.

Moreover, a 100 percent conviction rate raises a host of questions. Are the trials and investigations truly fair? The former elected official said that his weren’t, that he was set up by Indonesia’s intelligence agency, and that he was convicted after refusing the judge’s demand for a bribe. Does the commission have a perfect record only because it goes after the lowest-hanging fruit? Perhaps it is ignoring juicier targets farther up the tree. Part of Indonesia’s struggle with stemming corruption lies in the fact that Suharto never served a day in prison (he died in 2008). It's hard to justify a crackdown on lower-level bureaucrats while leaving the kingpins untouched.


The KPK’s greatest contribution, though, may be in merely bringing somemeasure of accountability, however imperfect. During the years that the agency has been operating, Indonesia has climbed annually on Transparency International’s ranking, from the very bottom to the lowest fifth and so on, before finally reaching the midpoint of the index.

Read: Indonesia’s rights struggle: Deciding which candidate is the ‘lesser evil’

In the United States today, very few high-ranking officials are ever jailed for corruption. The occasional elected representative, out of hundreds serving at any time, may wind up in Club Fed, but only if he is exceptionally venal andexceptionally careless. Anyone higher up the food chain can reasonably expect to receive nothing more than a fine and probation. This is not because American politics are unusually clean—it’s hard to argue that the current U.S. administration has been a paragon of righteousness, and, indeed, the United States ranks only 22nd in Transparency International’s index.

The most vexing challenge is drawing a sharp line between political corruption and politics as usual. In the course of researching this article, I found that two of my personal acquaintances here in Indonesia had been arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison time (which they served) in cases brought by the KPK. I don’t hang out with an atypically corrupt set of degenerates. Or, at least I don’t think I do. But in a society where virtually everybody has paid off somebody for something—a traffic violation, a building permit—who can tell?

The United States isn’t Indonesia by a long shot. But that should not be grounds for complacency. When political corruption is tolerated, it can quickly become normalized. The KPK, with its warrantless wiretaps and employment of convicted criminals, doesn’t offer a perfect handbook for virtue’s custodians. It does, however, provide vivid evidence of the measures available to help take on dirty politics.

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...lessons-indonesia-fighting-corruption/588358/
 
Beheading people head due to corruption is too sadistic and not fair, I prefer cutting hand just like Islamic Law suggested.

We don't need to do that. Just make them poor and let public know who they are. It is far crueler for them than just a hand mutilation. That's why, as you see, many corruptors in our country got sick. That's because their mental strength can't stand against what KPK do to them.
 
We don't need to do that. Just make them poor and let public know who they are. It is far crueler for them than just a hand mutilation. That's why, as you see, many corruptors in our country got sick. That's because their mental strength can't stand against what KPK do to them.

should taking the wealth from their relatives too (like wive and childrens assets, parents, brothers and sisters and other direct benefficaries)
 
This all sounds really good, but I wonder what Indonesia is doing to prevent corruption? For example all tax records and fines in the UK are computerised - reducing the scope for backhanders. Nearly all salaries are paid into bank accounts, so extra deposits of cash either in banks or in homes can be considered suspicious. There is sharing of data by police and healthcare services nationally. There are national level criminal records checks available to employers, I think IT and availability of data to the public and play a big part in helping to reduce corruption.

should taking the wealth from their relatives too (like wive and childrens assets, parents, brothers and sisters and other direct benefficaries)

I agree. If anyone is found guilty of corruption, their children, siblings, parents and the same for their wife/husbands family should all have their finances investigated. Anything they cannot prove ownership of - should be confiscated by the state. This will act as a deterrent, people will fear association with a corrupt person.
 
This all sounds really good, but I wonder what Indonesia is doing to prevent corruption? For example all tax records and fines in the UK are computerised - reducing the scope for backhanders. Nearly all salaries are paid into bank accounts, so extra deposits of cash either in banks or in homes can be considered suspicious. There is sharing of data by police and healthcare services nationally. There are national level criminal records checks available to employers, I think IT and availability of data to the public and play a big part in helping to reduce corruption.



I agree. If anyone is found guilty of corruption, their children, siblings, parents and the same for their wife/husbands family should all have their finances investigated. Anything they cannot prove ownership of - should be confiscated by the state. This will act as a deterrent, people will fear association with a corrupt person.

tax reform and records in Indonesia is still at preleminary stages, still raw and full of loopholes, not as matured as in UK in which had the system working for centuries, after all less than two decades ago there is less than five percent of total population had been recorded in National tax system
 
Beheading people head due to corruption is too sadistic and not fair, I prefer cutting hand just like Islamic Law suggested.
But the stealing here is from the whole nation not an individual and BTW the punishment can be reduced to cutting hands after beheading a dozen or 2
 
I think the main reason is because we have two good presidents.

SBY and Jokowi.
 
I think the main reason is because we have two good presidents.

SBY and Jokowi.

It is because many people, civil society (ICW, Anti Corruption community, university student politics, and others), press, parliament (since KPK is responsible to parliament and the leaders is chosen by parliament), expert, good police that become KPK staff, and many influential good people in Indonesia. The success is a product of many leaders in our country, similar like how we as a nation can become a democratic country through peaceful way. And of course there is God intervention and help as well.
 

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