JAKARTA - Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) assesses that the main problem in the Coretax project is not in the server disruption, slow application, or piling up of taxpayer complaints. The fundamental problem is actually at the initial planning stage of the project.
The Founding Secretary of IAW, Iskandar Sitorus, said the public had been reading the root of the Coretax problem incorrectly. According to him, the failure of the system cannot be separated from the design and planning process which was considered problematic from the beginning.
"The real cracks appeared long before a single line of code was written, namely at the planning table. Coretax is not a small project, but the backbone of tax reform that supports state revenues from more than 14 million taxpayers," said Iskandar, Monday, December 15.
Iskandar emphasized that since the design stage, specifications, to the selection of the system model, the Coretax project should be subject to legal standards and the highest principles of prudence. However, according to him, it was at this stage that serious problems arose.
"In the state financial law, there is no term of pre-planning that is free from legal consequences. Since the initial idea was drafted, this project has been bound by the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability," he said.
IAW noted that the Coretax planning process was closed. The document of the needs study was never widely opened to the public. In addition, the involvement of international consultants such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte in the early conceptualization phase was considered potentially to create conflicts of interest.
"The problem is not just who is involved, but the position and authority given. The designer of the specifications should not be the party that judges the results of his own design. This is a structural conflict of interest," said Iskandar.
In practice, he continued, the Coretax specification is compiled with very high standards, ranging from cross-country experience requirements, portfolios worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to extreme technical complexity. This condition is considered to narrow the competition.
"When specifications are drawn up in such a way that the competition is narrowed, the country risks not getting the best price, the technology that really suits the needs, and adequate knowledge transfer," he said.
IAW also highlighted the selection of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) system which was considered to increase the risk of dependence on vendors. According to Iskandar, the use of ready-made systems should still ensure that the country has full knowledge and control over the system.
"Otherwise, the country will only become a perpetual user, while the vendor becomes an invisible controller. In fact, national policy emphasizes the mastery of strategic technology by the state," he said.
Iskandar added that the cost of consultants, which reached hundreds of billions of rupiah, became more problematic when the initial design triggered repeated changes through the change request scheme. This condition has the potential to burden the state budget in the long term.
"When the system is not optimal, tax revenue can be delayed. When vendor dependence occurs, the state's financial burden swells. This is the most modern form of state loss," he explained.
According to IAW, to assess the existence of a violation, it is not necessary to prove malicious intent. It is sufficient to prove that the decision was made without due care and caused serious losses or risks to the state.
Iskandar encouraged an investigative audit by the Financial Audit Agency on the pre-planning and procurement phases of Coretax. He also asked Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives to carry out its oversight function by opening documents and summoning related parties.
"Technical improvements can be made, servers can be strengthened and applications can be polished. But if the upstream is wrong, the downstream problems will continue to recur," he said.
English:
He assessed that without thorough improvements from the initial stage, Coretax risked becoming an expensive and ineffective project.
"Coretax will only be an expensive symbol of misguided good intentions, while the burden is borne by taxpayers and the state treasury," concluded Iskandar.
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