In total, 11 heads of regions (including a
governor) were arrested for corruption in 2016
On Feb. 15, 2017, millions of
Indonesians cast their votes in 101 regional elections throughout the country,
including in the capital city of Jakarta.
Each time such large events
are held a number of major issues are discussed in multiple forums and media by
a range of experts, including money politics and vote-buying practices,
patrimonialism, political dynasties, just to name a few.
At the center of these
discussions is the possibility that the newly elected leaders will become part
of future corruption problems in Indonesia.
In the World Economic Forum’s
2016-2017 Global Competitiveness Report, Indonesia was ranked 41st, a drop of
four places from the previous year despite a number of reforms to its business
environment.
According to the report, the
two most problematic factors for doing business in Indonesia were corruption
and inefficient government bureaucracy. As indicated by past cases, the two
factors are closely linked to various leadership problems in Indonesian
regions.
According to OECD’s 2016
Economic Survey of Indonesia, the capacity of sub-national governments to
deliver high-quality public services is often lacking. Unfortunately, so are
the frameworks to monitor the use of public resources. This can only mean one
thing, a high risk of public resources being misused for personal or group
interests.
With all the resources spent
and all the failures to prevent the problems from re-emerging, it is fair to
say that we still suffer from a lack of understanding of the multiple
dimensions of corruption.
Although in reality many
people do not understand enough about corruption, many do not seem to want to
understand enough about corruption for various reasons (e.g. many consider
discussing corruption among friends and family as taboo).
In a study titled “World’s
Most Literate Nations” ( 2016 ) by the Central Connecticut State University,
Indonesia was named the second most illiterate country in the world. Among 61
surveyed countries only Botswana scored worse than Indonesia.
The examined factors in the
study represented literate behavior critical to the success of individuals and
nations in what have now become knowledge-based economies. The result of the
study should have raised alarm as the growing complexity of real world
problems, such as corruption, demands we continually update our knowledge and
information.
Possibly due to a lack of
scientific references, many view corruption in Indonesia as largely a
structural problem requiring only structural solutions. While this is partly
true, it should be noted that so far as studies on corruption are concerned it
takes multiple disciplines just to understand why people engage in corrupt
activities.
Cultural, psychological,
political and economic reasons are some of the perspectives worthy of
consideration when designing proper corruption prevention initiatives. This is
to say simply campaigning about anti corruption at public events, for example,
will be ineffective in stopping people from engaging in corruption without
other measures to support it. Many believe that anti corruption speeches and
lectures, for example, must also be accompanied by real life examples to
gradually change people’s attitude to corruption.
Finally, researchers also play
an important role in understanding the true nature of corruption and in
supplying anti corruption practitioners with reliable input to systematically
eradicate the problem.
Many countries have taken
advantage of anti corruption research to support decision makers dealing with
corruption issues. Unfortunately, high quality research and publications in
Indonesia are items of luxury, let alone those on corruption as the “publish or
perish” maxim does not seem to apply to the country.
Indonesia is often seen as
continually lagging behind its neighboring countries in terms of research
capacity and high quality publications. Among the roots of the problem is that
research is often perceived as mere administrative work, in particular for
academics with low or no real innovation to solve real problems.
Answering research questions
or testing various hypotheses is often understood merely as a routine to
increase library collections with research reports and thus the scientific
findings never find their way into the outside world.
Research publications should
be viewed as more than just a fulfillment of researchers’ administrative
duties, they should also be a fulfillment of their moral duty to contribute to
making the world a better place. With regard to corruption, research
publications are meant to support the formulation of anti corruption policy, assess
impacts, provide alternative perspectives and facilitate broader debates and
discussions.
As the great master of
strategy, Sun Tzu, once said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you
need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the
enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know
neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
The writer, Hendi Prabowo is
the director of the Centre for Forensic Accounting Studies at the Islamic University
of Indonesia.
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