Anti Corruption Progress in Indonesia
Anti Corruption
Progress in Indonesia
Asian Studies
II: Current Trend in Asia
- Introduction
The
flame of the spirit of reformation flared up on 1998. Demonstrations,
riots and chaos sprung up in some prominent cities. And the climax on
May 1998, Suharto step down from the president of Indonesia office,
and ended his powerful authoritarian regime. Indonesian people
rejoice and dream of “a New Indonesia” in the spirit of democracy
and reformation. And now, 15 years later, Indonesia has transformed
from a military and authoritarian centralized government to be a more
relative open and democratic nation.
The
other side of shifting to democracy state, it had brought the country
faced complex problems. One of the biggest problems is the corruption
emerged to different way, even in more dangerous ways. People in
political power, politics mafia, know that they just only have a
short period of time in power and position, therefore they engage
massive corruption while they were still in power. Parties and
politicians need money for election, they gain financial support
through corruption. Corruption becomes systemic spreading in national
and regional level.
Before
Reformation Era, anti-corruption institutions were formed and renewed
by the government. Unfortunately, the position of the commission did
not strong enough and was toothless to combat corruption. In 2002, as
a response on international and domestic pressure, Indonesia’s
Corruption
Eradication Commission was formed with highly public expectation.
Later on, the commission had changed the corruption environment in
Indonesia and bring new hope in the spirit of reformation.
II. The
Development of the Trend
a.
The Raise of Anti Corruption Institution after Reformation Era
KPK
(Corruption
Eradication Commission) established
in 2002 as as independent institution. Modeled on Hong
Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, KPK formed with a
broad mandate to combat corruption which covered investigation,
prosecution, prevention, policy coordination, research and
education1.
KPK
only deals with corruption cases involving law enforcement and state
officials, which
made of state loss minimum 1 billion Rupiah2.
Integrity
was the center and the highest virtue of KPK’s organizational
culture. KPK tried to changed the mindset of the majority society
that honor and dignity are based on riches and power3.
Broadly,
there are some important points in the road map of the KPK : handling
of grand corruption, national integrity and fraud control4.
At the end the goal of KPK is to build national integrity system
which promote social justice, common weal and education for Indonesia
people.
Gabriel Kuris in his
report stated that “From January 2008 to December 2011, the KPK
conducted 269 preliminary investigations and prosecuted 139 cases.
Convicted defendants included more than 30 members of Parliament as
well as ministers, governors, mayors, ambassadors, consuls,
governors, deputy governors of the Central Bank, judges, prosecutors
and a chief executive of a state-owned company”5.
He reported “KPK actions recovered US$93 million of state
assets”6.
b.
Example Cases of Corruption handled by KPK.
- Corruption related to Democrat Party, president advocates party.
Muhammad
Nazarudin is a former parliament member, former treasurer of Democrat
Party. He was
sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in jail and fined approximately
US$22,000 in 2012. KPK arrested him because he accepted Rp
4.6 billion (US$460,000) linked to the construction of the SEA Games
athletes’ village in South Sumatra 7.
Nazaruddin
scandal was followed by the naming of a number of high-ranking party
officials
such as Angelina
Sondakh (former miss Indonesia, Parliament member, former Deputy
General Secretary of Democrat Party), Andi Malarangeng (former Youth
and Sports Minister) and Anas Urbaningrum (former chairman of
Democrat Party)8.
- Corruption related to Muslim Party.
Luthfi
Hasan (former chairman of Islamic Prosperous Justice Party/PKS) was
arrested because of accepting Rp 1 billion ($103,125) in bribes from
meat importer executives9.
In January 2013, Luthfi resigned from his office as president of PKS
after he was caught by KPK on accepting bribe.
- The case of Akil Mukhtar, Constitutional Court Chief Justice.
Akil
Mukhtar accused
the justice of taking a bribe to issue a favorable verdict in an
election dispute.
He
was arrested October 2013 with the evidence of a
paper bag full of Singaporean and American currency totaling $232,000
at his house when he was accepting the bribe from a regional
businessman, related to legal case decision of regional election 10.
c. The Response
of Anti-Corruption movement in Indonesia
Eradication
of corruption becomes one of the focus of the government. Various
efforts have been made by the government both to prevent and to
eradicate corruption. But in the early development of KPK, the
position of the commission can be weaken by legislative process,
police institution and other government institutions. After
the 2009 elections, legislators worked to weaken the commission, and
law enforcement leaders pressed criminal charges against the
commissioners. Antasari
(former chairman of KPK) was arrested in May 2009 on a murder charge
and later convicted, based on contentious evidence. The police also
arrested two more commissioners.
The
commission stated that the
tacit knowledge
of corruption made people accepting corruption in the midst of
society11.
But there is an increasing awareness in the society against
corruption. People raised their voice through demonstrations, media,
NGO, etc. We can see the emergence awareness of anti-corruption in
everyday people's life through news on the news
paper, TV, movie,creative
art as murals and comics. Educative efforts for anti corruption
campaign also emerged for children and youth in creative ways.
I
found the reality that the major church remain silence (or not so
reactive) toward the reality of corruption in the society. One of the
background factors of this is the principle of alienation of the
“spiritual” church from the “secular” world. The world of
politics and government are outside the world of the church. The
dichotomized thinking (sacred and secular) is very influential in
some majority churches.
III. Biblical
Perspective
a. The
Responsibility of People of God to build Anti-Corruption Society.
We need a biblical
perspective about why the church necessarily need to involve
responding to the reality of corruption, promoting justice and
righteousness, building people of integrity in the country. My focus
of biblical framework toward this trend is to answer the question of
what is the role of the church toward the raise of anti corruption
movement in the country? The church should be involve in building and
transforming a righteous and just society.
For our biblical
framework of justice and righteous society, first we start from the
concept of who our God is. We have A Missional God who loves justice
and righteousness and takes the initiative to redeem the fallen
world. Secondly, because we have a righteous and just God, therefore
we, as the people of God, have mission to bring justice and
righteousness in the society. In the situation of a corrupt country
for example, it is a responsible mission of God's people to endorse
anti-corruption and to promote justice and righteousness in the
society. The role of God's people is to be the model of people of
integrity (as the body of Christ, the church, or as individual
Christian). This is our responsibility and identity as people of God,
to be a blessing to the nations and as the salt and the light of the
world.
b. Our Biblical
Framework
God who
loves justice and righteousness
The first thing that
we need to see is our knowledge of God which will influence our
worldview and how we live our life in the world. God is the God of
the universe, the God of the creation, the God of all nations. All
things in the Earth is belong to God the Father. There is no place in
this earth that is not belong to God, include “the secular”
world. The Kingdom of God comprises all the creation. In Colossians
1:15-17, all things is created by Christ and under Christ's
authority. There is no inch in the world which is abstain from the
authority of Christ.
God
is just and righteous. He
loves righteousness and justice (Ps 33:5). Righteousness
and justice are the foundation of His throne (Ps 89:14, 97:2). Just
and righteous are God's character. It is God's identity.
“For
the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God,
mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.”
Deu 10:16.
The
implication of these characters that we as people of God suppose to
have the same characters as God whom we worshiped. It is part of our
identity as people of God. Jeremiah 9:24
tells us : “But
let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares
the LORD."
We should have an active response in doing justice and restoring the
community of injustice12.
The role of
God's people as a model of people of just and righteous
Man created in the
image of God. Man created for a task to subdue and rule, to serve and
keep God's creation. But human rebellion toward God brought the whole
world to disastrous result. Sin affected every dimension of the human
person, human society and history. Physically, men are subject to
death and our physical environment is under the curse of God13.
Socially, our social relationship fractures in every area of life and
spiritually, we are alienated from God, rejecting God's goodness and
authority14.
Human fall into sin affected all area of human life including
generate corrupt society.
God takes the
initiative to save men from their fall into sin. God has a salvation
plan for His people. Gen 1-11 gave us the story of creation, the fall
and the affect of sin which bring devastation to all creation. After
Gen 1-11, we see God's act and plan of redemption in His calling to
Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). God chose Abraham so that through his
descendant God will form a nation, God's people, who will keep the
way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice (Gen 18:19). The
election of Abraham is for the purpose of establishing a community
with God shaped ethical life which will fulfill God's ultimate
redemptive goal15.
The
people of Israel, as Abraham descendants, have a distinctive calling
to be God's instrument of blessing to other nation through their
model of relationship with God and the practice of their righteous
and just law (Deu 4:6-8)16.
Israel
is a model of justice and righteousness in society, which reflects
the God whom they worshiped. Through living ethical life of
righteousness and justice, God's people will be a blessing and bring
the nations to know God. The law gives Israel identity and role as
“priestly” and “holy” nation, how as God's people they live
ethically as the model, teacher and mediator for other nation17.
The theme “justice
and righteousness” is found in prophetic books in the bible, which
its range includes concepts of judging, judgment, rules, ruling,
being just and right18.
Isaiah and Jeremiah confessed that Israel had been failed to maintain
justice and righteousness according to the covenant with God (Is
59:9-11,15, Jer 2-5) 19.
Micah stated about the failure of Israel leadership which led to
God's punishment of the fall of Jerusalem (Mi 3:1-12). The book of
prophets comprise the promise of restoration of justice and
righteousness in the society by the Messiah, as Jeremiah stated,
"Behold,
the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for
David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely,
and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land”
(Jer 23:5).
The
ultimate act of God's redemption is in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. God
Himself came to the world and died on the cross to save and restore
the world from sin.
Jesus
Himself will restore and liberate the world from sin and its
consequences (Luke 4:18-21). At the end, through Jesus Christ, God
will restore all the creation into the new creation, where there will
be no more injustice and unrighteousness (Rev 21).
VI. The Role of
church and para-church to build anti-Corruption society
The
best chance for corruption eradication was through the education of
future generations. The church has her role to educate the people of
God the life of integrity. I found that when as long as I attended
the church until now, (in Indonesia or Singapore), it is very few
sermon touched about the topic of corruption. I heard my pastor
talked about corruption in the pulpit, but not so clearly to speak
with strong conviction against bribery and corruption. We need the
church which speak boldly against bribery and corruption, the church
who raise this issue in the preaching and teaching, and ask
repentance of the people of God who practiced bribery and corruption
in their daily life. This educative process has to be church
responsibility as people of God.
We
need
church
policies related to members of the church who practice corruption.
What kind of pastoral help that church provided for people who
practice bribery. Another policy of the church needed, for example
not to accept offering from corruption, church need a confirmation
that the money is not from the source of corruption. The church has
to be bold enough not to accept deacons or elders who practice
corruption, as one of the criteria in leadership positions of the
church.
Perkantas
Indonesia has entered 42 years anniversary this year. But the
evaluation question is how much the influence of Perkantas alumni in
the term of promoting justice and righteousness in the society? One
of the motto of Perkantas is “Student today leader tomorrow”.
One of the dream of Perkantas is to produce leaders to transform the
nation in every area of life, to build generation of integrity
through its discipleship program.
We need to be bold
in our position against corruption. This character has to be
integrated in the ministry for high school Christian students, campus
ministry, pre-graduate ministry, graduate fellowship and training
program as part of our discipleship curriculum. Perkantas needs to
give space for student interest on politics, social, medical, media,
etc and build a biblical framework through discussion and bible study
with the students. Other implication is to provide literature
resources (books, bible study materials) which support the effort of
building
character of integrity for people of God.
1KPK
Annual Report 2012, p. 5. This report is written in Bahasa.
http://www.kpk.go.id/id/publikasi/laporan-tahunan/955-laporan-tahunan-kpk-2012
2KPK
Annual Report 2012, p. 19
3Gabriel
Kurish, “Holding
the High Ground with Public Support: Indonesia's Anti-Corruption
Commission Digs In, 2007-2011”, September 2012.
http://www.princeton.edu/successfulsocieties/policynotes/view.xml?id=212
4KPK
Annual Report 2012, p. 19
5Gabriel
Kurish, p.15
6Gabriel
Kurish, p. 15
8Angelina
Sondakh and Andi Malarangeng were arrested after long process of
investigation by KPK
11KPK
Annual Report 2012, p. 19
12Howard
Peskett & Vinoth Ramachandra,
(…........................................), p.113
13Christopher
Wright, Mission of the People of God, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2010) p. 40
14Christopher
Wright, Mission of the People of God, p.40
15Howard
Peskett & Vinoth Ramachandra, p. 101
16Howard
Peskett & Vinoth Ramachandra, p. 108
17Christopher
Wright, Old Testament Ethics for People of God (Nottingham:
InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 319
18ER
Hayes, Dictionary of Old Testament Prophets, Mark. J Boda & J
Gordon McConville (ed), (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012),
p. 466
19ER
Hayes, p. 468
