(With apologies to Montesquieu)
Indonesia is on course for cleptocracy in which state is commanded by thieves, said Kompas in yesterday’s headlines. And the existence of thieves spread wall-to-wall ranging from executive, legislative to judicative. Poor Indonesia, before bearing fruits, this incipient democrazy soon becomes cleptocrazy.
In fact that’s stale news. Indonesia is the defending champion of corruption for years. Transparency International-Indonesia shows in 2010 Corruption perception Index (CPI) was 2.8 on a scale of 10 maintaining the same figure in 2009. In comparison of ASEAN countries, Singapore is nearly corruption-free country by 9.3 following by Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand, but Indonesia bests Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Be positive thinking please, we are still not the worst!
Day by day, legal officers seem to be incompetent to manage corruption case. Nyu-nyun, the suspect of disbursing graft to lawmakers in return of supporting a deputy governor of Central Bank, easily fled Singapore and then to Thailand and now reportedly Nyu-nyun was in Cambodia. By moving from country to country, her amnesia might have been cured. Nazaruddin, the suspect of graft scandal in SEA Games’ athlete dormitory construction project, with his sixth sense managed to abscond a day before the KPK imposed a travel ban on him. Previously, super Gayus ridiculed this nation by traveling to Bali, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore while in detention.
On the other hand, Antasari Azhar, the ablest KPK leader, has to be in jail with tawdry allegation and the judges deliberately ignored some important facts of his innocence. Even Law Graduates Association said that Antasari was a victim of errant legal system.
In a nutshell, Indonesia’s corruptors can proudly flex their muscle. They are roundly condemned, but they eminently call the shot.
Worse, the dishonesty not only implicates high profiles, but common people as well. Ikrar Nusa Bhakti recounted this bleak story of our society.
Of late, in Surabaya, a smart primary school boy had been asked by his teacher to fudge by giving answers to other pupils on national exams. His mother reported this to the headmaster and got ignored. Then she brought this to higher level, school committee and national education office and had the same response of neglectfulness. Finally, the press blew up the news and as a result the headmaster and teachers are forced to discharge.
Ironically, this honest mother unexpectedly became public enemy. Other parents scolded her and then dispelled her family from neighborhood.
This is utterly a sick society. Now community turns to communi-thieves.
Then, is there any good news of Indonesia’s corruption?
Fortunately, yes it is. Despite debilitating impact, hobbling economy, Indonesia with rampant corruption can still make headway compared to its peer in Africa. Experts on corruption put forward the account.
It turns out Indonesia’s corruptors undoubtedly love their country so much, so that the ill-gotten money is still rolling in Indonesia. Morality aside, money of corruption can still move the economy either by investment or by spending. On the contrary, the African corruptors saved their money in the Swiss banks.
I proposed for Theory of Corruption, Indonesia’s corruptors should be classified as benevolent corruptors.
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