SILENT OPERATION NEEDED TO FIGHT GRAFT IN STATE FIRMS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Dec 11 (ANTARA) - Although Indonesia has recorded a slight improvement in its fight against corruption, as indicated in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), yet the problem remains rampant across the country and needs serious attention.   Last year, Indonesia scored 3.0 in the Transparency International's CPI, up 0.2 points from its CPI score of 2.8 in 2010. In 2011, Indonesia ranked 100 out of 183 countries in the world. However, it ranked 110 out of 178 countries in 2010, and 111th out of 180 countries in 2009.          Despite the improvement, Indonesia faces a serious problem that must be fought off. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself admitted that corruption continued to undermine the country.  "Corruption is rampant in this country. It is a serious problem, and it hinders the country's development," he said during the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day at his state palace on Monday.           Therefore, the President called on the government, law enforcers, and leaders of state-owned companies to be committed to eradicating corruption across the country.         State-owned companies are among the venues from where corrupt officials often steal state money.         Therefore, the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) pointed out that the leaders of state-owned firms must be 'crusaders of the anti-corruption in order for the companies to operate efficiently and effectively'.          "There must be a really clean leadership spearheading efficiency efforts in state companies," said Agus Sunaryanto, a member of the investigation division of ICW, here on Tuesday.          "It is undeniable that there are still many unclean practices going on within state firms. Corrupt officers are being promoted by corrupt politicians and are then placed in high positions at state-owned institutions. Ten such cases were found during the period from January to August this year," he noted.          According to Agus, although such practices only harm the internal interests of the companies in which they take place, all of these are actually state assets.          He pointed out that it was difficult to reveal corruption in state-owned companies.          "Therefore, a silent operation is needed to find out about graft practices. State Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan should in this case conduct a silent operation to reveal corruption within state firms," Agus said.          "When it comes to corruption matters, Mr Dahlan must conduct a silent operation. He should not speak up immediately if he suspects corruption somewhere," he added.          Agus was referring to a recent case when the minister reported to the Council of Ethics of the House of Representatives (DPR), about alleged extortion attempts by certain legislators.          Agus said the minister should directly report to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) if there were indications of collusion among state firms.          He should take with him all the pieces of evidence, he added.          Meanwhile, Ferrari Romawi, a member of the House of Representatives Commission VI on investment, stated that it was difficult to uncover corruption in state companies.          "That is because their assets are separated from the assets of the state," he explained.          "I personally disagree with the idea that state companies' assets should be separated from those of the state because it causes difficulties in revealing corruption," Ferrari said.          Such assets become grey areas. It is much easier to point a finger at their inefficiency than accusing them of corruption, he continued.         Therefore, state-owned firms' assets should be deemed as state assets. That way, it will be much easier to determine the losses that the state suffers due to corruption, Ferrari stated.         In order to prevent external intervention, state-owned companies must be clean and transparent.  "To avoid external intervention, state-owned firms must be able to clean themselves up. Only then, there will be no room for suspicion," he explained.          Therefore, he called on the leadership of state firms to manage the firms transparently, because ¿state firms usually collapse due to corruption or inefficiency from within¿.          President Yudhoyono also called on the nation¿s law enforces not to take firm action against those found guilty of corruption.         They should enforce the law without discrimination. The government and law enforcers should not sit idle, he said.          "We should not tolerate corruption. We should not allow corruption to be a part of our lives. So far, there have not been any letups in our corruption eradication efforts. Still, the results are not evident," President Yudhoyono pointed out.         Besides bringing corrupt people to justice, he added, it was also important to eliminate the sources of corruption. "Corruption cannot be eradicated instantly. It will take a long time (to achieve the goal)," the head of state noted.         According to the president, there are four areas that a law enforcer needs to pay special attention to when trying to eradicate corruption.         "The first area is the procurement of goods and services, where mark-ups should be prevented. The second area is the issuance of licenses in the regions. This is one of the negative impacts of decentralisation. The third area relates to the usage of the regional budget and the state budget. Legal enforcers must keep track of the budget so it is not misused. And the fourth area is tax evasion," the President stated.***1*** (T.A014/INE/a014) (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 11-12-2012 21:42: