A. Fatih Syuhud » corruption

Indonesia fights corruption with people power

A. Fatih Syuhud — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:31:14 +0000

Totally agree with what BBC says, we, Indonesians, fight corruption with people power. In fact, whatever we want our government to change or to do we have to do it with people power i.e. street protests. The bigger the better. We cannot expect any change coming from the heart and soul of government officials whose only concern is how to fill their pocket with illegal money as fast as possible before getting retired.

In Indonesia public protests, secret recordings and an alleged plot among senior law enforcement officials to undermine the anti-corruption agency have transfixed the country.

Ask any Indonesian about corruption and chances are they will tell you that at some point in their lives they have had to deal with it.

Whether it is paying a bribe to get out of a traffic fine or slipping some extra cash to an official at the immigration office, corruption, many here say, is unfortunately a way of life – it is in the culture.

It is a depressing fact, but a reality that Indonesians have become used to.

But now something has changed.

Fed up and frustrated with the levels of graft within the institutions that are charged with the responsibility of protecting them, Indonesians have taken to the streets in what is being called one of the grandest showings of people power since the days of the 1998 Reformasi movement.

Envelop Journalism

A. Fatih Syuhud — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:44:30 +0000

If you watch Metro TV, the Indonesia’s CNN, you’d find a moving text at the bottom of the screen saying more or less like this:

Metro TV journalists/reporters would never accept nor ask for money to the interviewee.

What does the Metro TV’s notice implicitly mean? Yes. You’re right. Some foot-soldiers reporters who are doing interview to some prominent people are asking for money to the interviewee; in some cases you can invite them to have you interviewed provided you giving them “envelop” or you can make the reporting about you become “less evil” if you give the reporters an amount of money big enough to make them smile.

The money given is usually put in an envelop, hence we call the reporters who do such practices as wartawan amplop (literally, envelop journalist).

Deputy of Indonesia Press Council Sabam Leo Batubara strongly urged government officials, politicians and businessmen to stop doing such practices (i.e. giving “envelop” to journalists) in order to make the effort to eradicate such “corrupt-journalism” possible.

The Root Causes

Just like any other corrupt practices, such as those done by government officials, at least there are two main reasons that cause such bad practices still happens even today. Corruption by need and corruption by greed.

In most cases, corruption by need is what happens in Indonesia journalism. The low salary of foot-soldiers journalists–so low that cannot even meet their daily basic need–is the main factor. A foot-soldier journalist of a big newspaper in East Java told me that he got only IDR 200 to 400 thousand (around USD 20 to 50) a month. An amount which is unlikely for anyone to live modestly, not to say if he has a family to feed.

AM of Kumpulan Catatan wrote that most big newspapers such as Grup Jawa Pos, including Rakyat Merdeka, Koran Tempo, Media Indonesia, Trans TV, or Seputar Indonesia. pay their foot-soldiers very badly. No wonder then if such “envelop journalism” still happens today.

So, the table is on the big boss in the Indonesian media: to get rid of such “envelopism” is impossible unless they raise the foot-soldiers’ salary. Only then can we move to another topic of another root cause of corruption: mindset as is happening in the case of “corruption by greed” done by many (if not all) high level government officials and DPR (MPs) members.

Further Reading (in Bahasa Indonesia):

Aulia Pohan

A. Fatih Syuhud — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:55:27 +0000

Aulia Pohan was born in Palembang, South Sumatra, 11 September 1945 was Bank Indonesia (Indonesia Central Bank) Deputy Governor between 1999 - 2004

Education
Finishing his Master in Economics Development from Boston University, USA.
Joining various educational programs abroad including;
Financial Programming Policy Course IMF, Washington;
ADB Training on Monetary and Fiscal Policies, Tokyo;
Workshop in Harvard University etc.

Careers
1971 Bank Indonesia employee on Banks Supervision and Training
1979 staff of Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor on Economy and Statistic and as Associate Representative at Bank Indonesia Office in Tokyo.
1999 on 17 May 1999, chosen as Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia

He is also the father in law of Agus Harymurti Yudhoyono, son of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who married Annisa Larasati Pohan, Aulia Pohan’s daughter on 7 July 2005.