by Syarief Makhya
Academist of FISIP Unila
KPK recently announced that Lampung is one of the 10 most corrupt provinces in Indonesia during 2014-2019. The level of corruption tends to increase continuously and dominated by project commission or procurement of goods and services, licensing, levies, budget misuse, and money laundering. t means the imposition of sanctions against corruptors has no deterrent effect and preventive measures also tend to be ineffective so far.
Corruption in the procurement of services and trade can be categorized as political corruption because despite using e-procurement (electronic procurement systems), factors of interest and power can win companies that have political access with political officials.
To overcome political corruption, the government has done many things such as bureaucratic reform, anti-corruption campaigns, improving employee welfare, increasing supervision, improving the moral character of officials, imposing sanctions on perpetrators of corruption, etc. However, the efforts are not positively correlated with reducing the number of corruptors. The gaps still can be manipulated or systemic conspiracy by the authorities.
Corruption eradication that has been carried out for years should reduce the amount of corruption and increase public confidence in the government. However, in reality, people’s perceptions have not changed. This country is corrupt and morally degraded within government officials.
Power still tends to be perceived as a tool to reap non-halal income. Other factors causing corruption include “aji mumpung”, uncontrolled power, low commitment among officials to build a clean government, the application of transparency is still limited as a formality, limited access to information, the power of mass media influence, activists NGOs, and anti-corruption activists can still be dammed and cannot break through the entrance which is the root of corruption. The question behind the increasing number of corruptors is why the prevention and repression of corruptors tend to be ineffective?
Political Corruption
Political corruption is still difficult to overcome because of structural problems. Political corruption is “the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain” (https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/political/corruption) or Political corruption means the abuse of political power by the government leaders to extract and accumulate for private enrichment and to use politically corrupt means to maintain their hold on power (https://www. sciencedaily.com).
So, political corruption is the behavior of officials who deviate from the official authority. In this perspective, political corruption is closely related to the regional head election process, for example, elections with expensive political costs and only with the power of money that can win the competition. The elected regional heads will be forced to accumulate the power of money not only to return the capital but also will try to reap in money for the sake of future political investment.
They find financial gain from project commissions, permits, and deductions from operational cost activities, or the results of cost engineering. Under such conditions, the power practically cannot be controlled. They can exploit the potential power to reap financial benefits.
Another factor is the result of bureaucratic collusion and regional heads. In Indonesia, the authority of the bureaucracy is under the regional head. As an executive, they must be loyal to the regional head. The definition of loyalty is to be able to carry out all orders both officially according to the authority, and other instructions as requested.
For example, if a regional head asks for a budget in the APBD for a particular activity, even though it is contrary to existing rules, it must still be implemented. This mode is often used to fulfill the wishes or interests of regional heads. Another way is to force certain projects in the name of public interests, although the fact is there are hidden interests for political networks within the political officers.
Solution
Overcoming political corruption is not enough with a bureaucratic reform, a juridical, or a moral approach. Reformulating the political order is more important and strategic to get out of the problem.
Some communities want the presidential and regional head elections to return through the MPR or DPRD with a new model. However, the other communities want to maintain a recent model with fundamental changes by closing the gap of transactional practices and tightening the requirements of candidates for the regional head.
Another option is to increase sanctions for political officials who commit corruption. Many have suggested not only revoking their political rights but also death sentences such as in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Malaysia with a hanging sentence, and South Korea with a social sanction.
