Indonesia's Corruption Index Downs, Mahfud MD: As A Government, We Areau

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD during a visit to the Siwi Orphanage, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, Friday (3/2/2023). (ANTARA)

BANTUL - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) RI Mahfud MD said that the decline in Indonesia's corruption perception index in 2022 compared to 2021 became the government's concern.

"One of the things that in the past 3 days has become our concern is the government that takes care of law enforcement and eradicating corruption in 2022, according to Transparency International, down from 38 to 34", said Mahfud MD after visiting the Bina Siwi Orphanage, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, February 3.

According to him, the decline in Indonesia's corruption perception index is a concern because the government used to reform it when the corruption perception index was at number 20 in 1999. However, then every year it rose and reached its peak in 2019 it was 39.

"Then it fell 38, then it remained at 38, and now it has dropped to 34. The corruption perception index means the international community's perception of how big the corruption score is in Indonesia, meaning that from interval 0 -100 we are at 34," he said.

The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs said that the decline in the corruption perception index was the highest because during the reform government the index continued to rise, including the era of President Jokowi which consistently rose, but suddenly fell.

"Is there more corruption? Yes, it can be because the evidence is that we arrested people, OTT (hand arrest operations). But actually, the increase in corruption itself is normal, like that has been going on for a long time," he said.

According to Mahfud, what is now the problem of why the corruption perception index is down is not because of law enforcement in the field of corruption. He said it was precisely because his law enforcement had increased.

"But this generally goes down because what is considered not only corruption, but for example business licensing. People think that this is a lot of collusion. How come investing is difficult. People already have permission in one place and then are given permission to other people. Like that," he said.

Thus, continued the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the problem is licensing bureaucracy. That is why the government then issued the Job Creation Act (Ciptaker) in the form of the omnibus law so that the licensing process is not long-winded by several tables, but one door.

However, said Mahfud MD, in the last 3 years the state's efforts to eradicate corruption have been extraordinary. Like the Attorney General's Office (AGO), it is like amputating the government itself.

"All government people have been arrested. Asuransi Jiwasraya, Asabri, Kemhan (Ministry of Defense), second minister was arrested, the governors were taken, the regents were arrested by the OTT, and so on, we, the government, have seriously eradicated it in the sense of action," he said.

"However, in the sense that our bureaucratic administration is pioneering, now it is strong with the first preparation of legal instruments that allow us to work quickly and control quickly," he said.