Jokowi Wants Diversity in Next Batch of KPK Leaders

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, May 25, 2015

President Joko Widodo, center, meets with the nine-member, all-female committee
 to select the next leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
(Antara Foto/Yudhi Mahatma)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo said on Monday that he wants the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to be led by people with different expertise and skill sets to expedite the country’s fight against graft and better tackle cases that are getting increasingly sophisticated and complex.

“The selection committee must also consider how to transform the KPK into a respected institution that can develop a modern investigation system,” the president told a nine-member committee tasked with finding suitable candidates for the roles of KPK commissioners.

The term of the current batch of commissioners will end in December and their replacements must be named before then.

Joko last week garnered praise from experts and activists when he announced an all-female selection committee, with  backgrounds ranging from economy, law, human rights and even information technology.

The president appointed economic analyst Destry Damayanti and state administrative legal expert Enny Nurbayaningsih as the committee’s head and deputy head respectively.

Other members of the team include Harkristuti Haskrisnowo, a criminal law and human rights expert; Betty Alisjabana, a technology, information and management analyst; Yenti Garnasih, a money laundering and criminal law expert; noted psychologist Supri Wimbarti; Natalia Subagio, the chairwoman of Transparency International Indonesia; as well as Diani Sadiawati, the director of legal human rights at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas); and Meuthia Ganie-Rochman, an expert on corruption sociology and social capital.

Experts praised the appointment, describing the members as people with professional integrity and free from political affiliations.

The president said selecting a committee from diverse backgrounds should rersult in equally diverse candidates, allowing the KPK to investigate complex cases.

The upcoming candidates “must also be able to build networks and relationships with other institutions,” he said.

Joko met with all committee members for the first time at the State Palace at 3 p.m. on Monday.

State Secretary Pratikno said aside from explaining what his ideal candidates would be like, the president also told committee members to immediately set up plans and procedures for the screening process.

The committee members said they would encourage more women to apply and possibly become the agency’s first female commissioner.

“We feel a diverse team of KPK leaders will be very good. Diverse in the sense of their competency as well as gender,” selection committee spokeswoman Betti Alisjahbana said after meeting the president.

“We will try to have at least one woman [leading the KPK] although our assessment will be based on the criteria set.”

Previous KPK commissioners have so far all been law enforcers, legal practitioners and auditors.

Betti said the committee would be proactive, approaching a variety of non-profit groups and encourage them to have one of their own people applying for the posts.

“If you know any potential candidate, please persuade them, encourage them and convince them to play a role in the KPK,” she continued.

Chairwoman Destry said the committee would also stage consultation meetings with the KPK to understand what the agency needs most at the moment.

She said the committee would host a series of marathon meetings starting on Tuesday to formulate details of the selection process. “We will move quickly, because we don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

The selection process for five new leaders is estimated to conclude by November, after which the final candidates would have to undergo a House of Representatives vetting process. Inauguration is expected in December, after which the five leaders will serve a four-year term.

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Editorial

Chinese officials sent on prison tours as a 'warning' against corruption

Officials and their spouses in Hubei province spent a day in prison this month ‘as an educational warning’, reported China Daily, provoking mockery online

The Guardian, Agence France-Presse,Monday 25 May 2015

China’s ruling Communist party led by President Xi Jinping has vowed to
crack down on endemic corruption. Photograph: Ma Zhancheng/AP

Chinese officials have been sent on prison tours visiting inmates including former colleagues as a warning against corruption, state-run media said Monday, provoking mockery online.

More than 70 officials and their spouses in central Hubei province spent a day in prison this month “as an educational warning”, the government-published China Daily reported.

The trip had given them a chance to meet 15 former government staff serving custodial sentences at the institution, it added.

The ruling Communist party has vowed to crack down on endemic corruption, with several former senior figures placed under investigation in recent years.

But there have not been systemic reforms and critics say with tight controls on media and the judicial system the campaign is open to being used for factional infighting.

The newspaper cited the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist party’s top anti-corruption body, as saying such prison visits had been organised nationwide. The tours encouraged cadres to “be aware of wrongdoings involving corruption”, the CCDI was quoted as saying.

Some Chinese internet users applauded the scheme while others reacted with derision, some calling for the trips to be extended.

One poster on Sina Weibo, a microblogging platform similar to Twitter, wrote: “If you carried out a random check on these officials, most of them would belong in prison anyway.”

Joko Announces All-Female KPK Selection Committee

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Novianti Setuningsih & Erwin Sihombing, May 21, 2015

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters in South Jakarta.
(BeritaSatu Photo)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo announced nine new members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) selection committee on Thursday, all of whom are women.

“In the past few weeks I have been working hard to form a selection committee for the anti-graft agency [KPK]. Its members have to be competent and possess integrity; they must possess skills and knowledge in a wide range of areas,” Joko said on Thursday.

The president appointed economic analyst, Destry Damayanti, and state administrative legal expert, Enny Nurbayaningsih, as the committee’s head and deputy head respectively.

Other members of the team include Harkristuti Haskrisnowo, a criminal law and human rights expert; Betty Alisjabana, a technology, information and management analyst; Yenti Garnasih, a money laundering and criminal law expert; noted psychologist Supri Wimbarti; Natalia Subagio, the chairwoman of Transparency International Indonesia; as well as Diani Sadiawati, the director of legal human rights at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and Meuthia Ganie-Rochman, an expert on corruption sociology and social capital.

Joko’s decision to form an all-female selection committee has been welcomed by female activists.

“No one can doubt their [professional] backgrounds; we have a psychologist, an anti-corruption expert, legal experts. They are all great women,” said Ani Soetjipto, a University of Indonesia political lecturer.

The new panel is completely different to potential candidates tipped in the media prior to the announcement — all of whom were males and most of whom were former members of the Independent Consultative Team.

The team was formed by Joko earlier this year to advise him on the then-growing conflict between the KPK and the police, which was sparked after National Police chief candidate, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, was named as a bribery suspect by the KPK.

State Secretary Pratikno said the president chose the selection committee on his own, from 40 candidates proposed to him.

“He read their profiles. It was a long process, taking place for the past couple of weeks, before he finally decided on those names,” Pratikno said, adding it was only a coincidence that the new selectors happened to all be female.

KPK Deputy Chief Johan Budi applauded the president’s choice, saying not only were the members known for their professional integrity, they were also free from political affiliations.

“I see the selected committee as having no affiliation or relation to any political parties,” Johan said. “There will be a lot of political interests and people who will try to interfere in the selection of KPK leaders.

“Therefore we need a selection committee that is credible, capable and free from political interests.”

Chudry Sitompul, a criminology professor at University of Indonesia, echoed Johan’s remarks.

“I think all the nine names presented by President Jokowi are mostly new people. They are not yet contaminated by particular interests,” he said, referring to the president with his popular nickname.

Hifdzil Amil, a researcher at Gadjah Mada University’s anti-graft study center, said he could not be sure if the president had made the right choice.

“I know several names,” he said, adding the public in general were not familiar with the other names.

Basuki Demotes 57 Civil Servants for Poor Performance

Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, May 18, 2015

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has demoted dozens of
bureaucrats for not performing. (GA Photo/Mohammad Defrizal)

Jakarta. Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has demoted dozens of top Jakarta bureaucrats for failing to perform in their jobs.

A total of 57 officials in echelon 3 and 4 positions have been downgraded to regular staff, the outspoken city leader announced on Monday.

“There are many people down in the hierarchy who wish to go up,” Basuki said. “We want to have competition in governing the city.”

Agus Suradika, chief of Jakarta’s civil service bureau, said most of the demoted civil servants came from the Jakarta Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) and the city’s urban planning office.

The bureaucrats will have a chance to redeem themselves if they show “progress” during an appraisal in three months’ time, Agus said.

“If they don’t get better, we will cut their performance allowance,” Agus said. “They will only receive a basic salary.”

Basuki introduced quarterly performance-based bonuses for civil servants in February, as part of City Hall’s wider push to incentivize bureaucrats to improve their services to the public.

Basuki has made no bones about his displeasure with poorly performing and lazy city bureaucrats, and has repeatedly expressed his intention to recruit more professionals into his team.

The governor on Monday also promoted 196 officials who will now assume high-ranking posts while 452 others are transferred to other similar ranking positions.

“To be honest I would rather fire as many public officials as possible. We are overstaffed and thus not running efficiently. So maybe one day you too will be [downgraded to] regular staffers if you are not diligent, if you don’t raise the bar,” he said to those receiving their promotions.

Basuki said he would continue to solicit input from the lower ranking officials. “So many staffers reported that ‘my boss can’t even use a typewriter.’ Some also say ‘[my boss] only polishes his gemstones all day,’ ” he said.

The governor said he had tried to verify this by assessing their superiors’ performances.

“I asked them, why aren’t you performing well. I got many excuses. [They say] our staff is incompetent. So we let them choose their subordinates,” he said.

“But we will evaluate again in six months. If the evaluation [results] are still appalling then there’s something wrong with the superiors. Then I will be left with no choice but to downgrade them again.”

Related Article:

Basuki to Fire Officials Who Fail to Submit Wealth Reports

Former N. Sumatran District Chief Jailed in Akil Bribery Case

Jakarta Globe, Erwin Sihombing, May 11, 2015

Raja Bonaran Situmeang becomes the latest regional official to be convicted
of bribing Akil Mochtar, once Indonesia’s top judge, in exchange for a favorable
ruling in an election dispute. (Antara Photo/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

Jakarta. An Indonesian court on Monday sentenced a former North Sumatra district chief to four years in prison for bribing the country’s top judge in exchange for a favorable ruling in an election dispute.

Judge Muchammad Muchlis of the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court also fined Raja Bonaran Situmeang, the former head of Central Tapanuli district, Rp 200 million ($15,200) after finding him guilty of paying Rp 1.8 billion in bribes to Akil Mochtar, then the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, to rule in his favor in a dispute arising from the 2012 district election.

The sentence and fine were lower than the six years and Rp 300 million sought by prosecutors. Both sides said they would study the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

Bonaran becomes the latest regional official to be jailed in the wake of the Akil scandal. The judge himself was convicted in June last year of taking bribes in connection with more than a dozen regional election disputes, and handed an unprecedented life sentence by the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court — the stiffest sentence ever given in a graft case in Indonesia.

Others jailed in the same case include Ratu Atut Chosiyah, the former governor of Banten province, and Romi Herton, the former mayor of Palembang in South Sumatra, as well as a host of fixers and lawyers.

Ex-Jambi Education Agency Head Arrested Over Rp 1.5b Graft Allegation

Jakarta Globe, May 08, 2015

The former head of the education office of Jambi City, identified only as R in
 this photo, is a suspect in the alleged corruption in the stationery procurement
of Rp 1.5 billion. (Antara Photo/Wahdi Septiawan)

Jakarta. The Jambi State Prosecutor’s Office on Friday said it had arrested the former head of Jambi City’s education agency over allegations of mismanagement in the stationery procurement budget worth billions of rupiah in 2013.

Karya Graham Hutagaol, chief of the intelligence unit at the Jambi State Prosecutor’s Office, said Rifai had been detained for the next 20 days as part of the investigation process after the State Prosecutor’s Office had compiled enough evidence and questioned 98 witnesses.

“We decided to arrest Rifai as an attempt to prevent the suspect from destroying the evidence and from fleeing,” said Karya.

Rifai, who was named a graft suspect in February, has been accused of corruption to the tune of Rp 1.5 billion ($114,000) in connection to misappropriation of stationery procurement for various schools in the city.

Karya said the project should have been openly auctioned given the large amount of cash, but instead it was divided into 76 packets and then given directly to eight partners that delivered the budget in cash to the schools instead of procured stationery.

Karya added that Rp 1.5 billion was divided in order to avoid an open auction process and that the partners were simply designated as “formality.”

The state prosecutor’s office estimated at least Rp 1 billion in state losses.

According to Karya, Rifai is charged with a 2001 law on anti-corruption and could serve at least five years’ jail time.

Google Indonesia Wants to Know Your Business and Help You Market It

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, May 07, 2015

A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich,
Switzerland on April 16, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Arnd Wiegmann)

Jakarta. Google Indonesia, the local arm of the global Internet giant, launched on Thursday a free platform called “Google Bisnisku” that will allow small and micro businesses to register and promote their works over the Internet.

The service will let Google to recognize almost every small and medium-size enterprise in Indonesia, offering free services to widen the businesses’ exposure to markets.

“Every kind of business can have the online presence while building its credibility and visibility on the eye of the customers without any charge with Google Bisnisku,” said Mira Sumanti, Google Indonesia’s head of small and micro business.

A recent study by Google and  Ipsos MediaCT, a Paris-based media research firm, fund that business with complete information on the internet can attract 29 percent more customers, Mira said.

Indonesia is home to 56.5 million SMEs with monthly sales between Rp 100 million and Rp 4 billion ($7,700 and $308,000), data from the Cooperative and SME Ministry showed.

A business owner can register with the program simply by logging in to the “Business” section on the Google.com home page. The owner must wait for around two weeks to receive the verification code mailed.

“We need to send it by mail to make sure of the validity and the presence of its owner is such as the address,” Mira said.

After the validation process has been completed, anyone who has registered can then find the business’s name, address, operating hours and phone number at the right side of Google.com’s page. Both customers and the business owner can leave ratings, feedback or comments on the page.

Maulana Cristanto, who owns Locco Gelato, a small ice cream shop in Bumi Serpong Damai City at Tangerang District, is enthusiastic of the new Google facilities. “I’ve been wanting to have my shop on the right side of Google’s search page, just like those big companies do.”

“I hope it will increase awareness about my shop because they can see my shop address right on the first page,” Maulana said.

Right now, search results for “Locco Gelato” only show lists of some blogs, its website and Twitter account.

Google also offers business owner the ability to view simple statistics that might help the business, such as how many people search for their business, how often they look for it, and when is the busiest time at the store.

“We want to introduce hundreds of Indonesia’s local business with the importance of being online,” said Jason Tedjasukmana, Google Indonesia’s head of communications at the press conference on Thursday.

“Small businesses help the economy. We’ve seen how Indonesian economic growth was very slow in the first quarter — 4.71 percent, the weakest since the 4.12 percent pace in the third quarter of 2009. With those small businesses thriving, we might have a chance to grow,” he said.

GlobeAsia

Former Minister Jero Wacik Detained by KPK

Jakarta Globe, May 05, 2015

Former Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik is shown here
 leaving the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)
on July 16, 2014. (Antara Photo/Fanny Octavianus)

Jakarta. Former minister Jero Wacik was detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday, after finally showing up for questioning in two separate graft cases against him.

Jero had appeared nonchalant when he arrived for questioning at the KPK’s headquarters in South Jakarta.

“KPK is summoning me today, and I answer the summons as a cooperative and law-abiding citizen,” Jero told waiting media ahead of the grilling.

But later in the day he was escorted out of the building wearing an orange detainee vest.

Jero skipped the first three KPK interview requests on the grounds that he had submitted a pretrial motion challenging his corruption status.

However, that was rejected by South Jakarta District Court Judge Sihar Purba last week.

Jero has been accused of abusing his executive power at the Tourism Ministry (2004-09), causing some Rp 7 billion ($539,000) in state losses according to KPK estimates.

He has also been accused of extortion while serving as the energy minister (2011-14). KPK prosecutors allege that Jero has illegally pocketed Rp 10 billion during the latter term.

US Companies Eying More Than $1b Investment in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, May 04, 2015

Workers clean the windows of an office building in Central Jakarta on
April 23, 2015. (Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

Jakarta. A delegation of top executives from 10 major US companies arrived in Jakarta on Monday, as they seek to forge stronger business relationships in Indonesia and are collectively considering more than $1 billion in new investment over the next three to five years.

US-Asean Business council, the organizer of the visit, said in a statement on Monday that the envoy is scheduled to meet government officials and business leaders in Indonesia — including President Joko Widodo; the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Sofyan Djlail; and chairman of the Indonesian Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani.

They are also scheduled to meet Lim Hong Hin deputy secretary general if the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations; the chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), Hariyadi Sukamdani; and senior leaders of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin).

The delegation includes companies from Ace Group, Cigna, the Coca-Cola Company, DuPont, Intel, Medtronic, Monsanto, and Procter & Gamble, of which all have a business presence in Indonesia.

“The companies on the delegation have substantial investments in Indonesia which support millions of jobs, and are collectively planning or considering more than $1 billion in new investment in the next 3-5 years,” US-Asean Business council said in the statement.

Most of the US investment in Indonesia has been from large oil and gas exploration firms such as Chevron and ExxonMobil, and diversity of investment into other sectors from US companies in the Indonesian economy has been small by comparison.

March Mealy, vice president for Policy at the US-Asean Business Council, praised Joko’s administration for its impressive slate of economic reform achievements in the first semester since taking office.

He said Joko’s economic policies — such as the fuel subsidy reduction; a one-stop shop for licensing launched in January; and the revised State Budget for 2015 that gave room for more infrastructure and social spending — made notable differences in the business environment.

“We look forward to continuing to work together on other key issue areas to enhance the domestic business environment and unleash Indonesia’s full trade and investment potential,” Mealy said in the statement.

Prakash Mallya, managing director for Southeast Asia at Intel, said the company believes that technology is the great equalizer leading to positive impacts for businesses, people and society.

“As Indonesia embarks its journey on a new economic frontier, Intel together with US-Asean Business Council is committed to accelerate key government programs on e-education, e-government, e-health, e-logistic, e-procurement as well as overall implementation of National Broadband Plan,” he said.

The companies of the US-Asean Business Council also gave their support for regional integration through the Asean Economic Community set to launch at the end of this year.

Patrick Graham, chief executive officer of the Asia-Pacific region for insurance company Cigna, said that companies are willing to enable greater regional connectivity and integration to build sustainable business, communities and governments that meet the challenging needs and opportunities present in the region.

“I am confident that this Mission will bring to the forefront the key priorities of the private sector to key leaders in the region and set the stage for even more fruitful partnerships and engagement in years to come,” Graham said

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