Jamsostek vows to fight corruption

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The management of state-owned workers' insurance company PT Jamsostek signed an integrity pact Thursday vowing to work as a professional team to reach the company's goals.

President director Hotbonar Sinaga and six other directors signed the pact.

Senior officials and heads of Jamsostek's branches are obliged to comply with the pact and implement health principles for businesses and codes of conduct.

In order to guarantee maximum benefits for workers, the company's management promised to create efficient and clean corporate governance over the next three years when managing its assets of almost Rp 50 trillion (US$5.34 billion).

"By signing the integrity pact, we send a strong message that we will work professionally and transparently and reject any external intervention," said Hotbonar, adding that Jamsostek would monitor claim payments and investments, which are prone to corruption.

"We will no longer receive fees for placing funds in banks and when sharing the equity of other companies through the stock market. We will also ... provide full protection for whistle-blowers reporting irregularities inside the company," he said.

Hotbonar said numerous institutions and individuals have requested financial aid from Jamsostek, but the company's new management -- appointed in early March -- rejected their applications.

Jamsostek has been shaken by numerous financial leakages in the past during the investment of its assets in state and private banks and enterprises.

The latest case, the purchase of Rp 100 billion in bonds from troubled Bank Global, landed former Jamsostek president Achmad Junaidi in prison for eight years.

Several corruption cases at the company have yet to be settled. Police and the Attorney General's Office are currently investigating the purchase of Rp 40 billion in PT McDonald's bonds by Jamsostek in 1993, the Rp 200 billion financing of an annulled labor law in 1997 and the placement of Rp 70 billion in Bank Mandiri through Bank Rakyat Indonesia in 2002.

Jamsostek was a moneymaker for government officials and political parties during the New Order regime.

Deputy to the state minister for administrative reform on supervision affairs, Gunawan Hadisusilo, said he appreciated the company's move to repair its tarnished image and to help accelerate the elimination of corruption in line with presidential instructions in 2005 calling for a nationwide war on corruption.