The Long History Of Corruption Eradication In Indonesia

President Soekarno at the opening of the 1962 Asian Games at the Senayan Main Stadium on August 24, 1962. The holding of the Asian sports party is suspected to be blessed with corruption. (Kemenpora)

The news of corruption cases in Indonesia is currently being shocked by the discovery of money and gold bullion at the house of a former Supreme Court official, Zarof Ricar. The amount of evidence found was astonishing, Rp920 billion plus 51 kg of gold bullion. If estimated, the entire evidence is worth more than Rp1 trillion.

The discovery of corruption evidence involving Zarof Ricar adds to the long list of corrupt behaviors of state officials. Even though efforts to fight corruption in Indonesia have been going on for more than 60 years, but have not succeeded.

On August 14, 1956, the Great Indonesia newspaper, which was commanded by Mochtar Lubis and Rosihan Anwar, started the lifting of the issue of official corruption. The figure targeted was Roeslan Abdulgani, Indonesian Foreign Minister for the period 1956-1957. Roeslan failed to arrest, and the case disappeared.

Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo is suspected of intervening in the case, which caused Roeslan to pass. Even though the Deputy Director of State Printing, Lie Hok Thay, who was arrested earlier, admitted that he had given Rp1.5 million to Roeslan. The bribe money was taken from the cost of printing the election ballot card. Not Roeslan who was arrested, but the Great Indonesian Koran which was actually banned.

Not only that, Rosihan and Mochtar were then jailed in 1961 because they were accused of being Soekarno's political enemies. The failure to reveal Roeslan Abdoelgani's corruption case is a sign, the disclosure of corruption cases in Indonesia is indeed njlimet.

Various efforts have been made to eradicate corruption in Indonesia. Not only through public supervision, the establishment of anti-corruption agencies has been trying since the Old Order era.

At least three times the Indonesian government during Soekarno's leadership formed a corruption eradication agency. The first is PARAN, which stands for the State Apparatus RetOOling Committee. This institution was formed on the basis of Law Number 74 of 1957 concerning the Hazard Situation Act.

Chaired by General AH Nasution, this institution is tasked with recording the wealth of state officials. PARAN's duties are approximately the same as the State Officials Wealth Report (LHKPN) at this time. However, in its implementation this institution faces resistance from officials, resulting in a deadlock.

Second, there is the State Apparatus Activity Supervisory Agency (Bapekan). It was formed under the legal basis of the Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1 of 1959 and chaired by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, Bapekan has the authority to supervise, examine, and submit proposals to the President of the Republic of Indonesia regarding the activities of state apparatus.

Bapekan was disbanded on May 5, 1962 while in charge of handling public complaints about corruption in the construction of the sports facilities complex for the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta.

The third is Operation Budhi. This institution was formed on the legal basis of Presidential Decree Number 275 of 1963, and was also chaired by General AH Nasution. Operation Budhi is tasked with continuing corruption cases to court, targeting state institutions prone to corruption.

Operation Budhi managed to save state money amounting to Rp11 billion. However, the age of this institution was only three months, and was disbanded because it was considered disturbing President Soekarno's authority.

After that, many anti-corruption institutions were formed, from the New Order era to the Reformation era. For example, the Corruption Eradication Team of the Attorney General's Office (1967), Committee Four (1970), Orderly Operation (1997), the State Administrators Wealth Audit Commission (KPPN/1999), the Joint Corruption Eradication Team (TGPTPK/2000), to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK/2002). However, all of this has not succeeded in eliminating corruption in Indonesia, which seems to have cultivated it.

Punishing corruptors does not automatically change corruption from a high-response position at low risk, to a high reward with enormous risk. As written by Susan Rose-Ackerman in his book Corruption and Government: Causes, Concequences and Reform.

Anti-corruption policies will not be useful if they are not supported by strong laws, which are able to prevent the process of corruption. The anti-corruption agency should only be part of a major strategy, which includes fundamental reforms to complement law enforcement programs," wrote Rose-Ackerman, professor of political science from Yale University, United States.

In line with Rose-Ackerman, Adnan Topan Husodo, who is a former coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said that eradicating corruption requires a wholeheartedly contribution from the government, in addition to the active and serious role of the community.

"Corruption is a multidimensional problem, so the KPK alone is not enough to completely eradicate corruption," said Adnan, quoted by Antara.

Corruption is indeed a modern term, but a manifestation of such acts of corruption has occurred thousands of years ago. Corruption has emerged since the ancient Egyptian era, Babylonian, Roman, and is sustainable today.

Corruption is a social platform, and a big problem that has been faced by all nations in the world since time immemorial. It takes hard and sustainable efforts to change the views of the younger generation on the value system that is inherited, in accordance with the demands that arise in every stage of the journey of the nations in the world. Especially the Indonesian nation!