Political Corruption in Indonesia Hampers Optimal Good Governance

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Political corruption is causing good governance to be insufficiently practiced to build a solid and accountable Indonesian government.

That is according to Senior Researcher of LP3ES, Malik Ruslan, who assessed that good governance in Indonesia has not been optimally implemented.

Part of the reason is due to the numerous corrupt politicians that have been apprehended and tried.

“Why hasn’t it worked? Why hasn’t it functioned properly? Fighting corruption and promoting governance are hampered because often the biggest perpetrators of corruption are the government and the private sector (market).”

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Malik finds that aside from loose regulations, the rampant spread of corruption in Indonesia is also due to the lack of morality among people.

He explained that there are several civil servants who are not forthcoming about their personal wealth.

Even though reporting on one’s wealth is not required, Malik believes that those who go on to become civil servants should be required to do so.

“The regulations that apply for civil servants are, in my opinion, still weak. Those who are required to report their net worth are the upper echelons of government officials. What should be done is that once someone passes the test to become a civil servant, they must directly report their wealth.”

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“Why should it be like that? In those organizations, there is normally petty corruption and sure it may be small favors, but if you accumulate such practices throughout the whole of Indonesia, the annual figures can be in the billions (of Indonesian Rupiah). That’s significant.”

When it comes to political corruption in Indonesia, previous cases indicate that mark-ups are regularly conducted for purchasing a product or hiring certain services.

According to Malik, such acts are common political corruption practices among the country’s civil servants even though the Indonesian government has instilled anti-corruption values as part of its good governance mechanism.

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“In good governance, the values of transparency, accountability, and rule of law are essentially moral messages to promote anti-corruption measures.”

“It cannot function because it comes down to the morality of the corruptor, and until that is established, a person’s faith and honesty will always be tested.”

(Writer: Irfan Kamil | Editor: Dani Prabowo)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/11/11/07592341/peneliti-lp3es-good-governance-di-indonesia-tak-berjalan-karena-banyak