Preventing and Eradicating Corruption Must Be Carried Out by the Government Together with the People
Author: Jacob Ereste
Freelance Journalist
The problem of corruption in Indonesia has become a separate job that must be faced by the government. The problem is, to eradicate corruption, the Indonesian government must face its own apparatus, which is actually the main perpetrator. Then the government formed the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) which seemed more like it only wanted to mark the prevention and eradication of corruption to be carried out seriously.
The beginning of the formation of the KPK was because the previous law enforcement apparatus was considered incompetent. Mainly the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office, so that the division of tasks to prevent and eradicate criminal acts of corruption and to increase transparency and accountability of the government can be carried out more intensively. That is how the KPK is expected to become an independent institution that focuses on eradicating corruption and strives to increase transparency and accountability of the government, even though its functions and roles are not optimal. So that the KPK was once given the title of a lame duck that was powerless against interference and pressure from the corruption mafia that had polluted from upstream to downstream from government agencies or institutions to various business entities within it.
Unfortunately, Indonesia’s corrupt behavior is like rain that is evenly distributed in the wrong drought. Not only in the executive, but also in the legislative and judicial institutions as if it were a sublimation of social, economic, political and cultural justice in Indonesia that has never been realized since the independence of the Indonesian nation was proclaimed as stated in the 1945 Constitution.
Even the 1945 Constitution itself which was pawned until it became the 1945 Constitution of 2002 was made part of a transaction of no small value. Since then, the model of corruption has continued to proliferate, no longer carried out conventionally through projects — because it is considered unsophisticated — but through legal transactions such as cases of bribery of judges through court decisions. Therefore, the culture of corruption in Indonesia is perfect from upstream to downstream, at least by delaying it and then burying it in a refrigerator whose contents can be easily transferred into a personal safe as has happened so far.
All of this corrupt behavior can be more direct by adopting a corporate work model — collectively, sharing equally, so that corrupt behavior can be passed down from generation to generation like the power in a preserved dynasty culture.
Just like the Asset Confiscation Bill which was made as a program agenda merely to get small change and image — as if it were anti-corruption — even though in reality it has been discussed since 2006. Notes from the Atlantica Institut Nusantara document that the purpose of the Asset Confiscation Bill is to give the state the authority to confiscate assets suspected of originating from corruption and other crimes, including money laundering. But anyway, from the news and stories blowing from Senayan, all residents of the parliament building are actually unwilling and feel a terrible fever like a weapon that is about to slit their throats.
So you can immediately imagine the amount of state wealth if the 10 corruption cases that have hit Indonesia can be resolved, such as from PT. Pertamina Patra Niaga Rp 968.5 trillion, PT. Timah Rp 300 trillion, Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) Rp 138 trillion, PT. Duta Palma Surya Darmadi Rp 78 trillion, PT. TPPI Rp.37.8 trillion, PT. Asabri (Persero) Rp 22.7 trillion, PT. Jiwasraya Rp 16.8 trillion, Sawit Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Rp 12 trillion, Garuda Indonesia Rp 9.37 trillion, BTS 4G Project of Rp 8.7 trillion, it is certain that all programs that have been planned by President Prabowo’s government can immediately run and be smoothly realized. Although being caught in corruption in the next episode is very possible. Because many old players are still in the Red and White Cabinet and also spread infectious diseases that they have brought as descendants of the previous regime.
This means that the government cannot act alone without involving many parties — especially the people who are quite critical and have concern for improving state governance for a better and more prosperous Indonesian nation.
Therefore, the role of the media — which has shifted from mainstream to social media — deserves attention so that it can play a maximum role in providing information, input and more widely publicizing the stubborn behavior of those who only care about themselves and their mafia gangs that are increasingly rampant in this country. Because to prevent and eradicate corruption in Indonesia, the government must do it together with the people. If not, because the government apparatus itself is dominant and becomes the main perpetrator or actor.
Banten, May 25, 2025
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