Clean Governance and Wealth Reports -- Indonesia...

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or SBY as he is known to the masses, came to the presidency in a wave of community euphoria that was premised on a belief that he was clean, and that he would make a concerted effort at cleaning up the endemic corruption that had plagued Indonesia under previous administrations.

That euphoria no longer exists as the cold, hard realities of governance has proven that words and actions are two very different animals, particularly actions are a lot harder to master than the words.

A recent report on the Wealth Reports of State Officials (LHKPN) has indicated that the president's party, Partai Demokrat (Democrat Party), has some 28% of its sitting parliamentary members who have failed to lodge their obligatory wealth reports by the required date. In explicit number terms, this is 42 of 148 members have not found the time to complete the wealth report and get it handed in. It is worth noting that the National Mandate Party (PAN) leads the way with a failure rate of 57%. The Democrat Party is closely followed by Golkar with a 26% wealth reporting failure rate.

The wealth reports are generally confidential. They are used by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to compare declared wealth at a certain point in time to declared wealth at a later point in time.

For example, when someone becomes a cabinet minister and when they retire (or are dismissed) from that position, or when someone becomes a parliamentarian and when they cease to be a parliamentarian. The reports, where there are large discrepancies, are then used to encourage the relevant officials to justify where that 'additional' wealth came from or where all their declared wealth has disappeared to.

The primary responsibility for compelling Democrat Party parliamentarians to complete the wealth reports lies with the Chair of the party, Anas Urbaningrum. However, it is clear that the Democratic Party is the party of the president, and therefore there is responsibility incumbent upon the president to ensure his political vehicle is always above board on matters such as good clean governance and corruption.

This is yet another test for the SBY legacy.

Police Promise Arrests, Not Justice...

In a closed-door meeting between police and a delegation of human rights and anti-corruption activists, the police have promised to make arrests in the beating of Tama Satrya Langkun. This promise should be taken with a grain of salt, or taken for what it means in reality.

An arrest is not the same as justice. If you doubt that, then take a look at the assassination of Munir in 2004. Until today, arrests have been made, prosecutions undertaken and convictions recorded, but it is debatable as to whether justice has been done. I would argue that justice has not been done.

Similarly, in this case, even if the police were to make arrests this week in line with their promise, this is not an iron-clad guarantee of justice being served. According to Usman Hamid, the former head of Kontras, the Chief of Police, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, asked that the activists be patient as these sorts of investigations take time. This is understatement in the extreme. Once again, the Munir case highlights just how much time the police might want to take in this investigation.

Nevertheless, the police have plenty on their plate at the moment thanks to the work of Langkun and the reporting of Tempo Magazine. The police are supposed to be releasing details this week of an internal investigation into allegations that senior police officers have substantial amounts banked in their personal accounts that are seemingly not able to be justified based on their known sources of income and assets.

I guess if one gives the police the benefit of the doubt, then they have until the end of the week to come up with some arrests. The question as to whether this leads to justice being done remains to be seen.

Photo courtesy of Antara via The Jakarta Globe.

Is SBY Paranoid?

Wednesday, 9 December 2009, is International Anti-Corruption Day. The day is marked for protest. This is not all that surprising in light of the recent, and ongoing, Cicak vs. Buaya fiasco and the ever-present Bank Century scandal. There is still enough corruption in Indonesia to warrant a demonstration on most days, let alone only on international anti-corruption day.

Poor old Mr. President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY to his friends, has suggested in a fit of paranoia that the protest or demonstration is not really in support of anti-corruption efforts but rather has been hijacked by his political opponents as a means of scoring some cheap political points. Awwww schucks Mr. President, it is nothing personal, it is called democracy and freedom of speech and freedom of expression. People in democracies feel comfortable and free to express their views in the form of demonstrations.

Maybe the photo above is an indication of how paranoid the President feels at the moment on the finger scale.

The fact that they feel free and safe enough to do it in Indonesia must be exploited by you! You need to get your PR people on this thing straight away and get them spinning it for all it is worth. "Look, under my watch democracy in Indonesia has thrived, and people believe that they are safe, so safe in fact that the feel comfortable in protesting about the one thing that is going to be my legacy, anti-corruption".

But instead, and as he is prone to do, the President has missed the moment. This is another one of those post-Marriott / Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings where the president has decided that the emphasis needs to be on him rather than the issues at hand. Pretty sad really that the President is seeking to silence his critics in this way.

The cold hard reality for the President, his family, his party, and any other associates is this; if they are clean and corruption free then there is absolutely nothing to worry about when a group gets together and wants to demonstrate about the failures they perceive to be occurring on the eradication of corruption front.

It is interesting that the President is all for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of association when it does not disturb national stability or law and order, yet, he was more than happy to stand by and let the "investigation" run its course in the attack on the KPK and two of its commissioners. Sounds like wanting to have one's cake and eat it too!

Perhaps it is time that the President worried more about governing than a few demonstrators getting together to celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day.

There is more to leadership than winning an election!

(Photo can be found here)

Anti-Corruption Forces Under Siege -- Indonesia...

I will be wearing my best white outfit in support of this action. I am not sure what difference it will make here in Sydney. Perhaps I can swing around Maroubra way and set up shop out in front of the Indonesian Consulate in my best whites and a sign or something.

It is a sad indictment of Indonesian politics and law enforcement that the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is being slowly but surely set up for dismantling. The KPK has grown into an organization that has had some considerable success. It would seem that this success is the root cause for the animosity that is now prevalent between the KPK and the police and the Office of the Attorney General.

It was an unfortunate and ultimately untimely coincidence that the Head of the KPK found himself embroiled in a over-heating love triangle (perhaps because of his fancy for the old triangle of love) that ended in the murder of his competitor for the triangle of love.

Probably what is even sadder, but simultaneously more interesting, is that the President who campaigned for a first term on a platform of cleanliness or anti-corruption, and then similarly campaigned for a second term on a similar platform all the while toting the successes of the KPK and the great strides Indonesia has made in this area, has remained out of the fray.

In fact, the presidential spokesperson on legal affairs has stated in unequivocal terms that the president is watching but is not going to become involved. In essence, the president is going to let this thing run its course. Presumably even if it means that the KPK is stripped of its powers and ultimately dismantled.

By my reckoning this would be the perfect time for the president to stand up and be counted. If he truly wants to leave a legacy of reform, good governance, and more importantly clean governance, then this is the issue to stand up on. If for nothing else, the man must stand on his principles, and judging by his campaigning and public statements his principles are that anti-corruption is something that he holds dear. Now, if that is true, now would be a good time to prove it.

The idea that the president is going to stand back from this one makes a mockery of all those who argue that having won 60% of the popular vote in the presidential elections that the president has a mandate to force through change. The man seemingly does not have the testicular fortitude to stand up for the one institution that can cement his legacy as a reformer, as a man dedicated to the people who have suffered for so long at the hands of corrupt officials. No, at this rate the president will be remembered as the president who presided over the dismantling of one of the more prominent successes of the reformasi period.

So, get out your white shirts and stand united with those who support the work of the KPK to date and support the idea that the KPK must continue with the ability to do this work into the future.

Viva KPK!