Competing For People's Suffering In The Indonesian Corruption League

President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Riva Siahaan after being named a corruption suspect at PT Pertamina Subholding and Contractor of Cooperation Contract (KKKS) 2018 (2023) at the AGO, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/2/2025). (ANTARA/Rivan Awal Lingga/nym)

JAKARTA Corruption at PT Pertamina which is said to have cost the state up to almost Rp1 quadrillion puts this case in first place in the Indonesian Corruption League.

Recently, the public was shocked by the corruption case of PT Pertamina, which was claimed to be a mega-corruption case with the largest state losses. The losses come from various components, such as losses in exports of domestic crude oil and imports of crude oil through brokers.

Not to mention the matter of the Pertamax mixing scandal that angered the public. So far, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) has named nine suspects in the alleged corruption case at PT Pertamina.

They are the President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Riva Siahaan, Director of Feedstock and Product Otmization of PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional Sani Dinar Saifuddin, President Director of PT Pertamina Internasional Shipping Yoki Firnandi, and Agus Purwono as VP Feedstock Management of PT Kilang Pertamina International.

The other four suspects are Muhammad Kerry Andrianto Riza as Beneficiary Owner of PT Navigator Khatulistiwa, Dimas Werhaspati as Commissioner of PT Navigator Khatulistiwa and Commissioner of PT. Jenggala Maritim, Commissioner of PT Jengga Maritim and Director of PT Orbit Terminal Merak Gading Ramadhan Joedo, Director of Central and Commercial Marketing of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Maya Kusmaya, and finally Edward Corne as VP Trading of Pertamina Patra Niaga Products.

The Attorney General's Office said state losses due to alleged corruption in the management of crude oil and refinery products at PT Pertamina Niaga, sub-holding, and Cooperation Contractors (KKSM) amounted to Rp193.7 trillion in less than a year.

This figure is a loss in 2023, while the AGO said that the alleged corruption in Pertamina occurred during the period 2018-2023. Thus, if it is calculated roughly, the amount reaches IDR 968.5 trillion.

Netizens who were too embarrassed by the number of corruption cases in Indonesia finally made the Corruption League Standings that occurred in the country. The corruption case at PT Timah Tbk which cost the state Rp300 trillion was ranked first, but then it was evicted after the AGO said that PT Pertamina's corruption cost the state almost Rp1 quadrillion in a period of five years.

In the next place is the case of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) with a loss of Rp. 138 trillion. Then there are still cases of land grabbing of PT Duta Palma Group which is said to have cost the state Rp. 78 trillion, the case of PT Trans-Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) of Rp. 37.8 trillion, and others.

Researcher from the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies at the Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University (Pukat UGM) Zaenur Rohman also highlighted the emergence of the Indonesian Corruption League standings which were busy on social media.

Zaenur thought that the emergence of the standings was an indication of public negligence in rampant corruption practices in the country.

"The public created this standings because they were so embarrassed to see the enormous corruption, the scandals that resulted in huge state losses," said Zaenur.

These corruption cases caused enormous losses to the state, so that in the end it was very detrimental to the people. With the disclosure of the recent series of jumbo corruption cases, it also shows that this crime is a big challenge for Indonesia.

"This should be a national awareness that Indonesia cannot run if the eradication of corruption is not a national agenda," he explained.

In line with Zaenur, Researcher for Economics of The Indonesian Institute, Center for Public Policy Research (TII) Putu Rusta Adijaya views corruption as an old problem faced by the Indonesian government.

Repeated corrupt practices make funds for the public interest such as education, health, and infrastructure disappear.

"In fact, the education and health sectors are very important to boost Indonesia's better human capital. The infrastructure sector is also affected, such as infrastructure to encourage economic growth through infrastructure connectivity development," explained Rusta.

Data from the AGO stated that the total state losses due to alleged corruption in 2024 reached Rp310.61 trillion, US$7.88 million, and 58.135 kilograms of gold. With the loss of state revenue due to massive corruption, the opportunity to develop sectors is also lost. important for the community.

"This megacorruption case will also be more detrimental to the majority of Indonesians, such as the lower and middle class who are currently screaming and shouting," he said.

Meanwhile, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law (FH) Muhammadiyah University Surakarta (UMS) Dr. Muchammad Iksan explained the importance of ratifying the Asset Confiscation Bill (RUU) after netizens were busy with the Corruption League.

"The last two very large cases (Pertamina and Timah) should open the eyes of the DPR, open the eyes of the government to be more serious in making efforts that allow people who commit corruption to be confiscated their assets to be able to cover state losses due to corruption. Now the mechanism is by the Asset Confiscation Law," he said, quoted by the UMS website.

In many cases of corruption, according to Iksan, compensation and fines cannot be paid by the convicts because those confiscated by the investigator and public prosecutor are insufficient.

"If the government and the DPR are serious about eradicating corruption, then want to return assets and want to return state losses from corruption, then the Asset Confiscation Bill can be said to be absolutely ratified immediately," Iksan concluded.