Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Sat, May 26, 2012
Archive Search

Country Addicted To the Politics of Corruption: ICW
Ulma Haryanto | April 21, 2011

Share This Page
4
2
0
1
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

padt
12:28pm Apr 21, 2011

It's quite simple actually.

You have a certain area and a number of candidates from various (or no) political parties - just one from each - who stand for election.

The person who receives the most votes is elected and goes into parliament.The people choose who gets a seat in the House - not the parties.

That makes them accountable to the voters, not to the party, because if the voters dont want them they dont get in.

If that's not the case at present in Indonesian politics - and the Parties determine who become lawmakers/members of the House of Representatives - then you need to agitate until the system is changed and the power is with the people.

Where I come from, politicians run scared of the people because if they dont perform no party is going to save them from the wrath of the elecorate - the people throw them out at the next election. They cant hide from the public. They certainly wouldn't speak to the public with the patronizing arrogance as some Indonesian politicians do. They would be hauled onto a televison programe and roasted. where I come from we demasnd answers from politicains and they had better deliver them ro else. Of cause 'spin' is the thing - but the electorate has a long memory and come the election - out he or she goes. No money and backing saves them. Here your 'politicians' are brazen and arrogant because they know that your vote is worthless - and once they get taken up by the Party and the elite backers whose aim is to protect their wealth - the 'politicians' act as lackeys doing the will, not of the people, but the elite few pulling the strings.

Of course politicians have to take notice of the big financial players in the economy - but in a democracy they must be responsible to the people who must directly elect them into office.

Where are the people of courage and vison who will stand up for this and demand reform?

I dont think many of them are at present politicians. I do believe that there are people calling for change and by persistence and the right use of IT and the media can bring about change. The next elections here could possibly send a strong message to the those wanting to maintain the staus quo that the times really are a changing.

To oppose change will eventually involve gross violations of people's rights and draconian laws. Indonesia must go forward. Those who oppose this are in the way.


  • Previous
  • 1
  • Next

It’s all a matter of politics, corruption watchdogs say, when figuring out why efforts to eradicate corruption over the past decade seem to have done very little.

“Political parties in this country do not think that they have to be accountable to their constituents,” Danang Widoyoko, chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said in a lecture at the Education Ministry organized by government reform advisory institution Kemitraan.

“They listen more to their donors who gave them money during the election period.”

In the political arena, Danang continued, there is almost no real opposition, because every party wants to join the ruling coalition.

“Running a political party is expensive, so they only act based on financial gain,” he said.

Further, the people running today’s major political parties are still either the same old players or their children.

“Major parties who are backed by the conglomerates of the New Order will continue to reign while smaller, newer parties will have a very slim chance to make it through the elections,” the activist said.

According to a national corruption survey by Kemitraan, the people’s perception toward the government in 2001 was not much different from 2010.

“In 2001, 70 percent of our 2,300 respondents admitted that corruption is rooted and entrenched in the country and the police, court, prosecutors, were the top three institutions that they don’t trust,” Kemitraan official Laode Syarief said.

In 2010, a similar survey was conducted, and it showed that the average level of people’s distrust toward legislators, police, judicial and prosecutorial institutions were still on average high.

“Corruption eradication efforts in the country were relatively stagnant because the decision makers in the legislative, executive and judicial institutions were corrupt,” Laode continued.

As a result, he said, the country has no holistic anticorruption program, weak commitment from the leaders and lack of realistic and measurable corruption eradication targets.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman M. Jasin said that since 2004, the antigraft body has handled cases involving 43 legislators and councillors, 131 state officials and one judge.

“Last year, we also received 394 gratification reports that implicated state officials,” he said.

Danang suggested looking into the possibility of state-funded parties, which would not be accountable to private interests and could be held to standards of good governance.

Laode also added that a clear corruption eradication plan should be written out for every state institution, including regional governments.

“There should be clear and measurable targets, the president should lead the implementation and [there should be] a clear sanction for those who failed to comply, and a balance between pre-emptive, prevention and prosecution of corruption,” he said.