JAKARTA - Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) highlighted the recurrence of cases of alleged integrity violations in the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) as a sign of systemic failure, not just individual problems. The public is considered wrong because it often simplifies this issue as the work of individuals.
"Until now, we have been too easy to call individuals. In fact, individuals are symptoms, not causes," said the Founding Secretary of IAW, Iskandar Sitorus, through his statement to reporters quoted on Saturday, April 25.
He cited two different cases that were considered to have a similar pattern, namely the cases of Ahmad Dedi and Rizal. Ahmad Dedi was in the spotlight in 2017-2018 regarding the alleged suspicious account worth Rp31.6 billion, but until now there is no legal clarity.
Meanwhile, Rizal has been named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on February 4, 2026 in the case of alleged import bribes. This determination was accompanied by the discovery of evidence of tens of billions of dollars and gold of more than 5 kilograms.
"Two different periods, two different contexts. But the same question: why do patterns like this keep coming up?" he said.
According to Iskandar, the root of the problem lies in the failure of the system, ranging from weak early detection to non-optimal enforcement. It's like, he said, the condition is like "swamp" which is left to be a place for crime to thrive.
"If a crocodile can live 20 years in the same swamp, don't blame the crocodile. Blame the swamp that has never been drained," he said.
IAW identified the "swamp" as weak internal supervision, a job promotion system that is not based on integrity, to audit findings that are not seriously followed up.
The findings of the Financial Audit Agency (BPK) for more than a decade are also said to show the same pattern, especially related to weak internal controls and high discretion of officers.
In audit terminology, this condition is known as chronic control weakness, which is a systemic weakness that continues to recur without significant improvement.
"If the promotion system does not read the track record, then those who pass are not because they are clean, but because the filter is leaking," explained Iskandar.
This condition is what makes IAW remind the importance of thorough improvement. So, the pattern of corruption can be closed not only by repeating with different actors.
"The big question is not who is guilty, but after Rizal, will there be new Rizals?" he concluded.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
