Indonesia’s corruption perception index (CPI) in 2017 stagnated at a score of 37 on a scale of 0 to 100 with 0 perceived as most corrupt and 100 as the cleanest.
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Kompas/Alif Ichwan
E-ID graft defendant Setya Novanto listens to witnesses testifying during his trial at the Corruption Court in Jakarta on Thursday (22/2). During the trial, state prosecutors summoned Setya’s former secretary, Kartika Wulan Sari, and PT Quadra Solution former president directors Anang Sudihardjo and Johanes Richard Tan Jaya to testify as witnesses.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Indonesia’s corruption perception index (CPI) in 2017 stagnated at a score of 37 on a scale of 0 to 100 with 0 perceived as most corrupt and 100 as the cleanest.
With the score, Indonesia ranked 96 out of 180 countries. In 2016, with the same score, Indonesia ranked 90 out of 176 countries.
Indonesia’s CPI score in 2017 was still below the average score globally (43) and in ASEAN (41). Of ASEAN’s 10 countries, Indonesia scored the same as Thailand and below Singapore (84), Brunei Darussalam (62) and Malaysia (47), as well as below East Timor (38).
CPI scores are measured using nine data sources comprising elements of law, economy, politics and democracy.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) researcher Wawan Sujatmiko said that Indonesia’s decreasing score in the 2017 World Justice Project was the main contributor for the country’s stagnating CPI score. The World Justice Report is used to measure the effectiveness and integrity of law enforcement. “The decrease shows that there are problems in law enforcement,” Wawan said during the announcement event of the 2017 CPI in Jakarta on Thursday.
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) data shows that 17 judges and seven prosecutors were arrested for corruption between 2004 and 2017. Furthermore, 144 lawmakers, 69 regents and mayors and 18 governors also faced legal action.
“This, as well as corruption in political parties and among law enforcement officials, led to CPI stagnation,” KPK deputy chair Laode M Syarif said.
Support
For corruption eradication to be successful, political support from the government and lawmakers is necessary. A lack of support, be it from the executive or legislative branches of government, will lead to ineffective corruption eradication. If the government and legislative bodies are willing to work together to prevent corruption and strengthen corruption eradication laws, an increasing CPI score will be possible.
“This must be done together,” Laode said.
KPK deputy chair of graft prevention Pahala Nainggolan said that a corruption prevention system was in place to help prevent corruption in political parties and regional governments. The KPK had conducted a number of studies and provided recommendations to these parties. However, not all of these recommendations have been implemented. It is unsurprising that arrests and legal action by the KPK still occurs often.
Deputy presidential chief of staff Yanuar Nugroho said his office was in the process of strengthening corruption eradication and prevention through revising Presidential Regulation No. 4/2015 on government procurement of goods and services. “This will be our new strategy to make corruption prevention more effective. The government cannot launch legal actions. This will also consolidate corruption eradication efforts and prevent any overlap,” he said.
Systemic
Jakarta Muhammadiyah University professor of criminal law Syaiful Bakhri said that ineffective corruption eradication efforts were caused by unintegrated law enforcement agencies, including the KPK, the police and prosecutors’ offices.
This stagnation may also be caused by a systemic and widespread culture of corruption. Corruption exists not only in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government but also in other professions. Syaiful said that Indonesia also suffered from overlapping regulations and a high-cost election system.
Law division head of the country’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama, Robikin Emhas, said that systemic corruption was inseparable from the high costs of politics both in the government and in the recruitment of legislative candidates, while poor public awareness, including among politicians and businesspeople, to stay away from corruption also exacerbated the situation.
“This situation cannot be neglected as corruption continues to be rampant. In the end, the country will be broke. Who will suffer first then? The people,” Robikin said.
Nevertheless, Airlangga Unviersity criminal law lecturer Iqbal Felisiano said that the stagnating CPI score did not mean that all hope was lost. It only meant the nation still had much more work to do.
Iqbal said that, generally, there were many loopholes for corruption in regional governments. Decentralization policies led to regions managing large budgets at a time when internal monitoring was still relatively poor. The people’s contribution to corruption eradication efforts was also low.
