For Students of History, the Corruption Of Indonesia’s Leaders Is Nothing New

I don't think I should add anything else here, aside that I like this article, and kinda sad that they cut a bit on the introduction, though they might know better - that's editors' job. Anyway, this is the original opening:

“I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you, to find out there is gambling on this establishment” Those were the famous words uttered by Captain Renault, the Chief of Police in Casablanca, one of the best movies ever produced in the 20^th Century. The punch-line, immediately appeared in a form of a waiter who approached him, saying, “Your winning sir."

One should be forgiven to recall that scene, especially when observing the unfolding bribery drama surrounding Mr. Muhammad Nazaruddin, the treasurer of the Partai Demokrat. Only the most naïve observers of Indonesian politics could assume that such thing could not happen, that every political party in Indonesia is clean, free from corrupting influences of money and power.

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For Students of History, the Corruption Of Indonesia’s Leaders Is Nothing New
Yohanes Sulaiman | May 26, 2011

In the 1942 movie “Casablanca,” Capt. Louis Renault, the city’s chief of police, expresses shock to a cafe owner that gambling takes place on his premises. The punch-line immediately appears in a form of a croupier who hands him a stack of money, saying: “Your winnings, sir.”

The scene comes to mind when one considers a more recent drama, the unfolding bribery scandal involving the treasurer of the Democratic Party. Muhammad Nazaruddin is accused of playing a role in both the kickbacks scandal tied to the construction of the Southeast Asian Games athletes village in Palembang and an unsolicited payment to a Constitutional Court official.

Such behavior, unfortunately, is nothing new in Indonesian politics, and related to many obstacles facing political parties. These range from the country’s sheer size, which makes campaigning very expensive, to the lack of loyal leaders and political infrastructure, which forces parties to bribe local strongmen to gather enough votes.

The tale of the linkage between money and power is as old as the history of our beloved republic. Those who study the history of modern Indonesia would not be surprised at current events, as they can find many similarities between behavior and scandals facing today’s political parties and the parties of yore during the rule of President Sukarno.

Even back then, corruption was commonplace, especially ahead of elections. Hugh S. Cumming, Jr., the US ambassador at the time, wrote in a 1954 telegram to the US State Department that an aide to Sukarno, had told him that preparations for the country’s first general elections, in 1955, by the Indonesian National Party (PNI) “were very thorough and far-reaching.”

The aide “had heard the estimate made by a PNI leader in an unguarded moment that through control of the electoral and administrative machinery they could keep the vote down to 30 percent of the qualified electoral list [not yet drawn up] and, if so, could win the elections,” Cumming wrote.

“He said that perhaps I was aware that the PNI ‘preparations’ include the solicitation under pressure of funds from not only the Chinese element of the Indonesian population but also from foreign firms.”

The Masyumi Party, the main rival of the PNI, was the most organized party in Indonesia with branches all over the archipelago. The PNI, while it could rely on Sukarno as its main vote-getter, did not have any strong organization.

As Masyumi was the best-prepared party, the question was not whether it would win the election, but how dominant it would be in the new legislature. Not surprisingly, Masyumi kept demanding the poll go ahead quickly while the PNI and the rest of the political parties were fighting tooth and nail to delay it. Graft and abuse of power was used to catch up with Masyumi, successfully. The PNI went on to win the election, albeit closely followed by Masyumi.

So is that what happened to the ideals of independence warriors? That, just a few years after the life-and-death struggle of the revolutionary war of 1945-1949, politicians were already mired in corruption and scandalous behavior?

The answer was the same then as it is today: None of the political parties in Indonesia are truly rooted at the local level. While parties claim to represent the people, those claims ring hollow.

The easiest way to prove this is to look at parties’ funding: how many of them really get their money from regular people, as opposed to being funded by a small circle of moneyed people closely tied to the political elite, such as leaders of the country’s business conglomerates?

Basically what the parties do is to get enough people to fund their operations, register their parties and start campaigning based on personal appeals or simply buying votes. There is no attempt to build a truly professional political organization from the bottom up or to create loyal, reliable cadres that will help the party gather votes without any demand for political reward.

This kind of campaigning results in a lot of funds being needed to bribe local leaders, who in turn get people to vote for the party.

As parties grow in a nation as large as Indonesia, the need for campaign money is also drastically increasing. This leads parties to engage in graft, such as by demanding payment from their members in the legislature or by siphoning off funds from ministries. At the same time, they also need to get more people funding the parties’ activities and the best way to do so is by “selling” positions in the legislature.

Not surprisingly, many lawmakers are out of touch and arrogant, because they do not see themselves as tasked with representing the people. Therefore, when people are protesting lawmakers’ useless, unnecessary and expensive “study trips” in Australia, Europe and elsewhere, or their wasteful and grandiose white elephants, such as a luxurious new House building, these lawmakers are not at all ashamed. Instead, they are outraged. These seats are rightfully theirs! They bought them for good money. They paid their dues and thus believe that they deserve all the perks.

The corruption scandal involving Nazaruddin is just the tip of the iceberg, as it is highly doubtful that he acted alone. The fact that he became a treasurer of the Democratic Party in spite of allegations that he attempted to rape a woman during the party’s national congress in Bandung last year, meant he was knew how the game is played — and that he knew whom to pay to maintain the party’s electoral dominance.

His alleged attempt to bribe the Constitutional Court, then, should not come as a surprise. The court has been very important in determining the results of many elections in the past few years, particularly in light of increasing doubts about the credibility of the General Elections Commission (KPU), which has been accused of delivering elections to the highest bidder.

With parties that are neither truly representative of local people nor have a reliable political organization at that level of society, it is no wonder that corruption at the level of ministries and the legislature is rife.

It has become the main way for parties in Indonesia to lay their hands on the money they need to ensure their winnings.



Yohanes Sulaiman is a lecturer at the Indonesian National Defense University and a researcher at the Global Nexus Institute.


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enakajah

12:25pm May 26, 2011

Pak Yohanes, You have done it again. A marvelous article.

"There is no attempt to build a truly professional political organization from the bottom up or to create loyal, reliable cadres that will help the party gather votes without any demand for political reward. "

Never were truer words spoken. Possibly the roots of the majority of the political problems we have and the levels of inadequacy and incompetence so rife the the government today.

PeterGriffin

5:13pm May 26, 2011

Excellent and well written article. Thank you Pak Yohanes.