Efforts to fight corrruption in Indonesia have been made since 1957 but until today the country has not succeeded in ridding itself of the scourge, a visiting Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) official said.
The conntinuing prevalence of graft in Indonesia had been confirmed in surveys conducted by credible world institutions such as Transparency International and Global Competitiveness Index, he said.
Corruption could happen not only because there were "evil" people but also because a "bad" system was providing opportunities to commit the crime. "In Indonesia`s case, both factors still exist," he said.
The conntinuing prevalence of graft in Indonesia had been confirmed in surveys conducted by credible world institutions such as Transparency International and Global Competitiveness Index, he said.
Corruption could happen not only because there were "evil" people but also because a "bad" system was providing opportunities to commit the crime. "In Indonesia`s case, both factors still exist," he said.
Various forms of corruption could be found in Indonesia such as deviations from the correct procedures, price markups, fraudulent deals, gratification, embezzlement, falsification and extortion, he said.
In its efforts to detect corrupt practices, the KPK was also helped by reports or complaints from members of the public, Sugiarto said.
In the period 2004-2009, the KPK had received a total of 34,080 reports from the public on suspected corruption cases. Of the number, the commission had analyzed 33,804 but found only a certain percentage to justify follow-up action.
The KPK which only handles corruption cases that caused the state a loss of at least Rp1 billion had taken action against numerous people in public office as well as in private business.
Among them were three ambassadors, two consulate general officials and one former national police chief, seven parliament members, two ministers and ministerial-level officials, five provincial governors, one central bank governor and four central bank deputy governors.
Also on the list of people arrested and brought to justice for graft by the KPK were eight city mayors and district heads, six General Elections Commission (KPU), Judicial Comission and Business Competition Supervisory Commission members, two senior court judges, two public prosecutors, one senior KPK investigator, a number of first- and second-echelon government officials and a number of businessmen.
