"The Walls Got Ears" May Finally Develop Its Meaning (in Indonesian Law)

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta, Wednesday, 25 August, 2010 | 23:37 WIB

The Corruption Eradication Commission has pledged for a greater public participation in the tremendous campaign against corruption as the commission invited some members of public who seriously craving for a lawful society to become the eyes and ears of the commission, or simply put, a whistleblower.

A software to support electronic reporting mechanism which has actually available since a year ago and has now finished its testing period is now -introduced with an improved feature that would protect the identity of a whistleblower.

In a ceremony to launch the "Whistleblower System" today (25/8) after about a year of trial, the anti-graft commission invited the public, especially those in the public service to contribute in their campaign by filing report of grafts in their respective institutions.

This is a relieving progress in Indonesian legal system considering that there has been no law yet in the nation that provides the legal position for wiretapped evidence in any legal proceedings. But the new mechanism, which relies heavily on public willingness to participate, needs to prove itself first.

Deputy Chairman of the body Haryono Umar said at the launching “the program has been implemented for a year at the anti-graft office. And evaluation on the system suggested that the report should be made mostly by civil servants.”

The system enables state officials to file report electronically through devices to be installed at seven departments and one state enterprise in agreement with the anti-graft body; the Education Department, Interior Ministry, Health Department, Finance Department, Forestry Department, Agriculture Department, Public Works Department, and the State Electricity Company.

The list did not come as a random picks as Umar said several departments selected has te largest spending allowance like the Education Department. While the other, the Finance Department runs the function of financial regulator and responsible to handle the state revenue, which make it a proper subject of supervision.

The Defense Department which is going to be the third largest institution by the size of spending next year is no where list.

Wider Public Participation

While the system is going to be installed at the institutions mentioned above, the public is not going to be excluded in the campaign. The commission said a similar reporting form is available on its official website www.kws.kpk.go.id.

"It's not complicated actually, only three questions which should be answered by the reporting indivual(s)."

MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI

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