JakartaGlobe, 23 February 2011
The country’s leading antigraft watchdog has released new figures on corruption in the regions for 2010, and the news is not good for North Sumatra and East Kalimantan. Agus Sunaryanto, head of the investigation unit at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said on Wednesday that based on the number of graft cases involving government officials, North Sumatra was the most corrupt province in the country.
The organization recorded 64 corruption scandals involving North Sumatra government officials at the provincial and district levels last year.
The country’s leading antigraft watchdog has released new figures on corruption in the regions for 2010, and the news is not good for North Sumatra and East Kalimantan. Agus Sunaryanto, head of the investigation unit at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said on Wednesday that based on the number of graft cases involving government officials, North Sumatra was the most corrupt province in the country.
The organization recorded 64 corruption scandals involving North Sumatra government officials at the provincial and district levels last year.
“North Sumatra’s provincial administration has to pay serious attention to corruption practices [involving government officials] plaguing the province,” Agus said. “The government must establish greater transparency and impose strict monitoring in regard to the use of its coffers.”
He added that losses incurred from graft in the province amounted to Rp 288 billion ($32.5 million) over the year.
One of the more prominent examples of corruption in the province was the case of North Sumatra Governor Syamsul Arifin, who was arrested in October in connection with alleged graft committed while he was head of Lankat district.
And in 2008, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Abdillah, the mayor of the provincial capital, Medan, and his deputy, Ramli Lubis, for two cases of graft.
North Sumatra administration spokesman Edi Sofyan denied the government had failed to carry out reform in the province.
“Just the opposite, actually,” Edi said. “The high number of cases [in North Sumatra] shows that we are serious about tackling corruption.”
Data recorded by the ICW showed there were 448 corruption scandals involving local officials nationwide last year, with 176 cases recorded during the first six months.
“In the first half of 2010, state losses caused by corruption nationwide amounted to Rp 2.1 trillion,” Agus said.
“In the second half of the year, losses amounted to Rp 1.5 trillion. The trend is worrying. These figures suggest that law enforcers tend to touch on only petty corruption cases.”
According to ICW records, East Kalimantan suffered the greatest losses of the nation’s provinces to corruption in the second half of 2010 at Rp 601 billion. This figure came from just two cases that were handled by local law-enforcement agencies during the period.
East Kalimantan was followed by Jakarta, which recorded Rp 200 billion in state losses from six separate corruption scandals.
Gamawan Fauzi, the minister of home affairs, has painted a bleak picture of the country’s regional heads, saying too many have been implicated in graft scandals.
“Among the 155 regional heads who have been named graft suspects, at least 17 of them are [current and former] governors,” Gamawan said during a meeting with Committee I of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
In November, Transparency International Indonesia named Cirebon in West Java and Pekanbaru in Riau as the most corrupt cities in Indonesia. The results were based on the organization’s most comprehensive survey yet, which polled 9,237 members of the business community in 50 cities.
The two cities tied in last year’s Corruption Perception Index with a score of just 3.61, with 10 being the cleanest.
“Reports from local and national media on both cities are filled with cases of corruption,” researcher Frenky Simanjuntak said. “This has affected the perception of businesses operating there.”
Medan scored 4.65 in the Transparency International survey, ranking 22 out of 50 cities.
Source: JakartaGlobe
