Bribery: Tip of the Iceberg

The Illegal Levies Eradication Team arrested Kediri Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Erick Hermawan for allegedly receiving illegal fees in issuing driver’s licenses. Citing National Police professional and internal security head, Erick was found to have collected illegal levies.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Anti-corruption activists carry posters in a "Clean Up Bribery" campaign during the car-free day on Sunday (6/5/2018) near the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle on Jl. MH Thamrin, Jakarta. The activists are campaigning to encourage the public not remain silent if they witness bribery.

The Illegal Levies Eradication Team arrested Kediri Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Erick Hermawan for allegedly receiving illegal fees in issuing driver’s licenses.

Citing National Police professional and internal security head Brig. Gen. (Pol) Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Erick was found to have collected illegal levies. Erick received Rp 40 million to Rp 50 million per week from processing driver’s licenses at the Kediri Police Station (Kompas, Aug. 23, 2018).

Erick\'s arrest was no surprise. Bribery, illegal commissions and illegal levies are normal and commonplace. As written in this column on Monday, July 16, 2018, bribery is "an age-old form of corruption". Bribery, or the practice of paying tributes and kickbacks, has existed since the Dutch VOC era. Officials enriched themselves by taking bribes, and the VOC went bankrupt because of acute corruption.

Such practices have existed for a long time in nearly all spheres of life, not just in the police force. The question is, why do such practices continue and appear to be permitted, even in the era of President Joko Widodo, who became the 7th president upon the tagline of “the Mental Revolution”?

The mindset of bureaucrats has not changed. Erick\'s arrest is expected to be an opportunity to clean out bribery and all its derivative forms. Eradicating corruption has to focus on one single issue: bribery! The Oct. 4, 1955 archive from the Indonesia Raya daily reports that the Supreme Court convicted Mr. Djody Gondokusumo (a former justice minister) for receiving bribes in exchange for issuing visas to unauthorized people during his term.

A survey shows that the most common corruption model is bribery (76 percent). The mental reform among the bureaucracy should focus on mitigating their acceptance of bribes. Today’s corruption eradication efforts place much emphasis on the aspect of the existence or absence of losses incurred to the state or national economy. Meanwhile, no action has been taken against the practice of bribery. The action the National Police have taken against Adj. Sr. Comr. Erick should be supported, including tracking the flow of money, regardless of whether Erick’s action caused state losses or not.

An investigative audit must be carried out to eradicate bribery from the side of the providers, which will show where the money has gone.

Indonesia implemented the Anti-Bribery Management System through the National Standardization Agency on June 8, 2017. The system provides strict and clear guidance on how to prevent bribery. The question is whether the system has been implemented across all lines.

A focus and road map on eradicating bribery from all lines of public service is needed to build a system that prevents bribery. Bribery can be avoided in today\'s digital economy, as long as there is a will.