Indonesia's Young Minds on Corruption

Jakarta Globe, Tasa Nugraza Barley | October 18, 2010

Experts agree: corruption is killing Indonesia. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it. With government officials seen as making up a large percentage of those illegally lining their pockets, it is not surprising that their actions often go unpunished.

‘I think the death penalty should be implemented for
those who are corrupt’ Nabila, high school student.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Most young people in Indonesia are aware of what’s right and wrong. And when questioned, many are vocal in speaking out against corruption.

Radya Isra Nugraha, 9, says his parents always tell him that corruption is a form of stealing other people’s money.

“It’s something very evil to do,” he says. “Of course I don’t want to be a corrupt person when I grow up.”

Nabila, a high school student in East Jakarta, says that she hears about corruption on the news every day.

“I think it’s such a shameful thing that there are so many people who like to be corrupt in this country,” she says.

Although Indonesia has a lot of potential, Nabila says, it continues to lag behind other countries in Southeast Asia because of corruption.

“I know from the textbooks that I read in school that Indonesia is a very rich country,” she says. “But why are there still millions of people who live on the streets and beg?”

“Until the government can fix the problem of corruption, our country will never be prosperous,” she adds.

Kevin Giovanni Layandro, a high school student, says he is aware of corruption because his teachers often discuss the topic in class.

“The reason corruption has become a big problem is simply because justice is not properly implemented in this country,” he says.

Ramzi Intishar, also high school student in West Jakarta, says corruption is on the rise in Indonesia because “people want to get easy money.”

“I will never be corrupt because I don’t want to go to jail,” Ramzi says. “More than that, I don’t want to disappoint my parents and my family.”

While these youngsters all agree that the problem of corruption needs to be addressed for the country to prosper, many high-ranking officials don’t seem to share the same view.

When the era of political reform arrived in 1998 after 32 years under the Suharto regime, there was a sense of hope among most Indonesians for a government that was clean and that would work for them and their interests.

That has not always happened and many people believe that democracy has failed them.

Some people even say corruption is now worse than it ever was under Suharto.

There are certainly plenty of examples to support this claim.

In March, tax official Gayus Tambunan made headlines after Rp 28 billion ($3.2 million) was discovered in his bank accounts.

The money is believed to have come from companies that Gayus helped avoid their tax bills.

Then there is Bahasyim Assifie, a former director of tax investigations currently on trial for corruption, who has been reported to have Rp 932 billion in bank accounts in the names of his wife and daughter.

It is alleged that the money was extorted from taxpayers.

The list of disgraced government officials continues to grow, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing anytime soon.

According to a survey by Indonesia Corruption Watch, one of the country’s leading antigraft organizations, there were cases of high-level corruption in at least 27 provinces in the first half of 2010.

North Sumatra topped the list with 26 cases, while Jakarta was in third with 16 cases.

The world is taking notice. In the 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index — a yearly survey by Transparency International to show how countries around the world deal with corruption — Indonesia was at No. 111 when it came to corruption.

In the survey, which involved 180 countries, Indonesia was tied with Togo, Solomon Islands, Mali, Kribati, Egypt and Algeria.

It was well behind four other Southeast Asian countries: Brunei at No. 39; Malaysia, 56; Thailand, 84; and Singapore, which at No. 3 was seen as doing a better job of fighting corruption than many Western countries, including the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Ending Indonesia’s mentality of corruption has proven difficult and many observers are concerned that the problem, and the behavior, could be passed on to today’s youth.

Orissa Anggita Rinjani, a psychologist at the University of Indonesia who specializes in children’s education, says that exposing children and teenagers to corruption through the media could have a damaging effect.

She says that in a sense, corruption had become the norm in Indonesia because perpetrators often went unpunished.

“If we all agree that corruption is bad, then why do we see that there are so many important people and high-ranking officials who are responsible for corrupt activities but don’t suffer the consequences?” she says.

It’s very dangerous when people begin to say to themselves, “If they can do it, why can’t I?” she adds.

Orissa says that because children learn from their environment, it’s important that parents and schools serve as positive role models.

Young people can grow up to be staunchly against corruption “if the place where they interact and spend the most time doesn’t tolerate corruption,” she says.

Education Minister Muhammad Nuh agrees. He says that his ministry is planning to integrate anticorruption classes into the national curriculum early next year.

Nuh adds that the culture of corruption has long haunted the education system.

He points out that many students cheat during exams, manipulate the attendance sheets or get others to do their projects.

“Those are things that have to be thrown out and erased from our educational environment. Hopefully, [a curriculum that integrates anticorruption lessons] will be able to help the young generation avoid corruption and really fight it,” he told state news agency Antara.

While the minister is focused on educating a new generation to hate corruption, high school student Nabila says the authorities need to start getting tough on those committing the crime.

“I think the death penalty should be implemented for those who are corrupt, that way people will never even think about doing it,” she says.

She is not alone in this sentiment. The chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Mahfud MD, has come out in support of introducing the death penalty for those convicted of corruption.

“The death penalty is possible if there’s danger. China has been implementing it and the people are satisfied,” Mahfud said at Dr. Soetomo University in Surabaya on Saturday.

He said that he thought current laws were too lenient on people found guilty of corruption.

“The highest sentence handed down has been 20 years,” he said, adding that most people found guilty of corruption only go to jail for one to four years.

But high school student Kevin suggest an even tougher way to put an end to corruption: “We should kidnap the children of people who are corrupt. That way, they know how it feels to lose something that they really care about.”

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