Indonesia Highlights: ‘Corruption Scandal is So Much Crazier Now than The New Order Era’: Indonesian Senior Minister | Indonesia, China Hold Inaugural Meeting of Bilateral High-Level Dialog in Guizhou

KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said that the country’s corruption scandal nowadays is much worse than the New Order era as today’s corruption is increasingly widespread and done by individuals.

Indonesia and China held their inaugural meeting of the High-Level Dialogue on Cooperation Mechanism in Guizhou Province on Saturday, June 5. The meeting, among others, discussed matters on priority, trade, economic, and investment cooperation projects.

Below are the editors’ picks stories published on Kompas.com:

‘Corruption Scandal is So Much Crazier Now than The New Order Era’: Indonesian Senior Minister

Indonesia’s Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said that the country’s corruption scandal nowadays is much worse than the New Order era as today’s corruption is increasingly widespread.

“Today’s corruption is more rampant than the New Order era. I will not rectify my statement. Today’s corruption scandal is so much crazier than the New Order era. I’m not referring to the stolen amounts but rather the presence of widespread corruption,” Mahfud said during a discussion with rectors throughout Yogyakarta on Saturday, June 5.

He explained that during President Soeharto’s New Order government, the practice of corruption, collusion, and nepotism, or locally known KKN, was massive. However, he argued, at that time no members of the House of Representatives, government officials, and law enforcement officers were involved in corruption cases.

“Don’t you remember at that time, there were no corruption cases against members of the House of Representatives, judges, governors, local government officials, regents as they were afraid of doing so,” Mahfud said.

“In the past, it was coordinated corruption. In my dissertation in 1993, the government built a corporatism network by establishing organizations in all institutions,” he explained.

The organization will later decide who will be the leader and who will get the projects. Mahfud said the corruption cases during the New Order era were coordinated. Unlike nowadays where corruption scandals were done individually.

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/06/05/20432301/mahfud-md-sekarang-korupsi-lebih-gila-daripada-zaman-orde-baru.

Indonesia, China Hold Inaugural Meeting of Bilateral High-Level Dialog in Guizhou

Dokumentasi Humas Kemenko Marves Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Parapat, Sumatera, on Tuesday (12/1/2021).

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, who led the Indonesian delegation, held the inaugural meeting of the Indonesia and China High-Level Dialogue on Cooperation Mechanism in Guizhou Province on Saturday, June 5.

During the meeting, Luhut was accompanied by State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir, Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara, and Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Herbuwono.

The meeting, among others, discussed matters on priority, trade, economic, and investment cooperation projects stated in the High-Level Dialogue on Cooperation Mechanism.

According to Luhut, the agenda of the meeting is a form of commitment from the two countries to strengthen cooperation in responding to global challenges. Both nations agreed to build mutually beneficial cooperation related to SOEs, finance, investment, health, and maritime affairs.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that the two countries have reached a consensus to make full use of the new mechanism and add maritime cooperation into the existing cooperation plan which covers political, security, economics, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

The maritime cooperation will cover areas such as marine scientific research, maritime search and rescue, and disaster prevention.

Still in the meeting, Erick Thohir said that in the SOE sector, Indonesia and China have made several important agreements such as making Indonesia a regional hub for vaccine production, establishing medicinal raw material factories, and research and development for herbal medicines.

"This is certainly a positive plan. The commitment of this cooperation underscores the importance of being independent in the health sector to achieve national resilience," Erick said on Sunday, June 6. Erick emphasized that cooperation prioritizes the people's economy and promotes national strategic interests.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/06/06/163645874/indonesia-china-hold-inaugural-meeting-of-bilateral-high-level-dialog-in-guizhou.

In Memoriam: Indonesia’s Former Foreign Minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja Dies

Dok HUMAS UNPAD Former Indonesian foreign minister and justice minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja dies at aged 92 on Sunday, June 6, 2021.

Former Indonesian foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, one of the key persons in the Juanda Declaration that integrates the entire territory of Indonesia and gains international recognition as an archipelagic state, died Sunday, June 6.

He was 92. Mochtar died at 9:00 am, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Teuku Faizasyah. Faizasyah, however, said that he has not received further information about the cause of death.

“No further information [about the cause of death] so far,” Faizasyah told Kompas.com. He said that the deceased would be buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta.

Born on February 17, 1929, Mochtar was first appointed foreign minister in March 1978, replacing Adam Malik. Mochtar served as the Indonesian foreign minister for two terms until 1988. Prior to that, he served as justice minister from 1973 to 1978.

Mochtar studied International Law at the University of Indonesia and graduated in 1955. A year after, he earned his degree in Master of Laws (LL.M) from Yale University in the US in 1956. Before he was appointed as justice minister by then-President Soeharto, Mochtar was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law in Padjajaran University in Bandung, West Java. He was later appointed as Professor of International Law at the Faculty of Law in Padjajaran University and Rector in 1972.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/06/06/230816374/in-memoriam-indonesias-former-foreign-minister-mochtar-kusumaatmadja-dies.