•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Over the past few weeks, we have been bombarded with survey after survey about public perceptions of corruption in government, law enforcement and business. If anything, the results show things are not getting much better. 

Our corruption perception index (CPI), according to Transparency International (TI), had a miniscule improvement from 2.4 in 2006 to 2.8 in 2010. Another recent survey by the group concluded that businesses in Indonesia are the fourth-most likely in the world to offer bribes in their dealings abroad. 

A survey by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center found that some 9 out of 10 Indonesians think government is rife with corruption, although 88 percent said they still trust the police, compared to 56 percent who believe in the judiciary. 

Routine Business 

With bribery and corruption scandals everywhere, from the Southeast Asia Games and the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration to the Malinda Dee embezzlement trial, maybe we need to ask ourselves what we, the general public, have done to make the situation better or worse. So we asked around. 

A former government employee told us that corruption is an everyday thing for a civil servant. “It is common to bribe another state institution in order to get a project, for example,” he said.

Staff, he said, are expected to “participate” in the corrupt system, because in the end they also benefit from it. Gifts also are routinely passed around to even minor officials, he said, because this is useful for setting up future meetings and following up phone calls.

“Sometimes when we know we couldn’t afford to give money, a cake will do,” he continued. “It’s a matter of maintaining the relationship.”

For government employees, our source explained, passing around gifts and money is a way to lobby people, something that workers in the private sector can’t understand. “We don’t work like slaves to please the company,” he said. “It is a matter of getting more benefits [for ourselves].”

A businessman who works in a mining company in East Borneo also confirmed that in his field of work, giving out payments to councilors and the local government is a “normal” way to procure mining licenses. The legal process is too complicated, he said, echoing a common sentiment; paying is easier.

Admitting It 

Sometimes, small things — if found out — can get you in trouble. Just last week, Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari from the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) got into trouble on twitter for publicly admitting that she had bribed a police officer because she was late for a meeting.

The outspoken lawmaker is one of very few House members who is vocal on minority rights, such as the plight of the beleaguered GKI Yasmin church and Ahmadiyah. She is also a leading advocate for democracy in Burma, and a woman who does not mind speaking her mind.

“In Tarokan [East Java], I was stopped by the police for not wearing a seat belt. Bargaining occurred, he asked for Rp 70,000 [$7.77], we gave him Rp 50,000. Slipped it into his pocket. The transaction was over,” Eva tweeted via her account @evndari on Nov. 5.

Eva then spent the next couple of hours explaining via twitter that she was late for a meeting and that she had only told her driver to “take care of it.”

“Had I told [the Police] that I was a lawmaker, I would have gotten away for free,” she said in her tweet.

She also said that her driver “settled” the matter at the police precinct, not on the street, while accidentally revealing that she did the same thing when she was fined for driving on a TransJakarta bus lane.

“I wouldn’t have to bargain. I even paid a Rp 200,000 fine for taking the busway lane at the Jakarta Police office,” Eva said on Twitter.

Later she told the Jakarta Globe that she was aware that she was at fault and was prepared to pay the fine. “I was surprised when my driver told me that the officers didn’t say anything when he only gave them  Rp 50,000,” she said. “Previously they asked for Rp 70,000.”

According to the 2009 Law on Traffic, the fine for not wearing a seatbelt is Rp 250,000.

Many, including one twitter user @PancaSyah, condemned Eva for allowing the “transaction” to take place at all. “Do you often take the TransJakarta lane, not wearing a seatbelt, and bribe the police? A suitable job for you is a member of the House,” he said on his twitter account.

Starting Young 

But why would anyone be surprised? Bribing the police is something all Indonesians are familiar with.

From a young age Danurdoro Kreshna Murti, 24, was exposed to this culture. Danurdoro got his first driver’s license when he was only 13 years old by bribing a police officer at Daan Mogot precinct in South Jakarta who offered to smooth the process. The cost was Rp 50,000. He did it again when he applied for a motorbike license three months ago.

“It was easy, all you have to do is to walk toward the entrance and pretend you’re confused,” he said.

The first time, the bribe was because he was underage. The latest was because he had to go through four or five windows at the office, and it only cost him an extra Rp 50,000 to speed things up. For Danurdoro, it is obvious that everyone is breaking the law, and all he had to do was “play along.”

“I’m aware that I was breaking the law, but to be honest I don’t mind,” he said. “It’s fast and very convenient.”

Iwan Setiawan, 40, said he had to face “impossible” tests the last time he tried to get his motorcycle license. 

“I was told to do a zig zag through a line of traffic cones and back without taking my feet off my bike,” he complained. He failed the test and had to come back the next day. Afterwards, Iwan just decided to take the “fast lane” and pay extra money to the officer.

On the road, many of us will choose to pay the officer on the spot instead of having our license confiscated and returned only after waiting in a crowded court room. It is the same with getting a passport or settling routine paperwork matters in many government offices. 

So when is bribery considered corruption? If corruption is so deeply entrenched in our culture, is dreaming of a country free of graft naive and even hypocritical?

KPK spokesman Johan Budi told us that even the smallest amount of money one gives to a state official outside existing regulations can be called corruption.

Johan referred to the 1999 Law on Corruption Eradication, which generally defines corruption as the act of enriching oneself or a corporation through the abuse of one’s authority.

“Then there is the level of corruption,” Johan explained. “One is punishable by the law if a state loss is incurred, and those above Rp 1 billion that involve state officials can be referred to the KPK.” 

However, he said, the fight against corruption really needs to start at the grassroots. “The system is still flawed, but it’s going to need both state officials and the people’s participation,” Johan said.

He urged those who feel pressure to pay bribes or are victims of extortion from government officials to report the offenders to the police. 

But perhaps first we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we participate in the system of petty bribery that feeds into a larger river of anything-goes graft. If that is the case, and it certainly seems to be, then the problem – and maybe the solution – is inside each of us.