More Indonesian businesses shun bribery, graft watchdog says

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/25/2008 12:11 AM 

More domestic and foreign businesses have opted to operate without bribery in Indonesia, an international graft watchdog says.

Trace International, a non-profit business association working with companies to raise anti-bribery compliance standards, said companies now realized it was in their best interest to avoid paying bribes.

"Even if you win a deal by paying someone off, the company's reputation suffers, and you risk losing your job or possibly worse. Hence, the cost becomes very expensive. It's just bad business," Trace International president Alexandra Wrage told The Jakarta Post in an interview here recently.

Three years ago, she said, when the organization offered anti-corruption training to companies here, no one was interested, and the conference last year had to be canceled because less than 10 participants registered.

"This year, we had to close the registration early because the hotel can't accommodate any more participants. You see, the people that come to the conference are people who want to do business without bribery," Wrage said.

Wrage rejected a suggestion that companies which refused to bribe officials to win contracts would end up losing money to competitors.

She said companies willing to bribe officials were a small minority compared to clean firms.

Trace International works with 130 multinational companies and their 1,200 partners worldwide to campaign for business without bribery.

Wrage was in Jakarta to conduct business training and met with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to discuss a possible joint venture to combat corruption.

Another factor which pushes companies to avoid bribery is that people worldwide have become fed up with corruption and countries around the world have put pressure on businesspeople to shun corrupt practices, she said.

"Companies are afraid because their executives are going to prison in the U.S. and other countries. An executive sitting in America, for instance, can go to jail because an employee in Indonesia screws up," Wrage said.

The increasing awareness of the business sector, she said, is supported by an increasing number of officials who are tired of corruption.

"Within every government, including Indonesia, we find officials who say they've had enough, it's embarrassing. We want to become a sovereign country that can be proud of itself," Wrage said.

She cited KPK's recent arrests of high-ranking officials and lawmakers as an example of change within the government.

Ten years ago, Wrage found no optimism, because corruption was generally accepted as a fact of life in Indonesia, she said.

But now a great deal of optimism can be sensed among businesspeople and officials, which is a sign things are really beginning to improve in Indonesia, Wrage said.