The importance of going straight

摘要

When in 1999 Indonesia held its first free elections in over 40 years, Saldi Isra, like many of his compatriots, expected great things. The energetic university lecturer decided to take an interest in the activities of the local parliament in his home province, West Sumatra. Its members were responsible for choosing the provincial governor, so he lobbied them to select a reform-minded leader in keeping with the spirit of the times. When they plumped instead for a conventional apparatchik, Mr Saldi decided that they were not to be trusted. So he began to scrutinise the provincial budget. The 55 local lawmakers, it turned out, had awarded themselves various perks and allowances amounting to 300m rupiah per person per year, on top of their normal salary. Mr Saldi earns 19m rupiah a year. Many of these overnight plutocrats had traded in their clapped-out motorbikes for expensive cars or moved to more fashionable neighbourhoods. When Mr Saldi confronted them, they blithely declared that they had the right to spend the provincial budget however they pleased. So Mr Saldi complained to the governor, the police, the prosecutors and the courts, all of whom ignored him. Mr Saldi's story, sadly, is commonplace. Indonesia Corruption Watch, a local non-governmental organisation, has uncovered no fewer than 67 similarly suspect budgetary manoeuvres in other local assemblies. Corruption addles Indonesia at every level, from town councils to the national cabinet, and in every branch of government. Members of the national parliament and the Supreme Court freely admit that their colleagues demand bribes to discharge their normal duties.