[Kabar-indonesia] Interview/KPK Deputy Chairman on Corruption in Procurement for Public Projects

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post
Monday, October 9, 2006

Govt officials 'afraid because they are corrupt' 

A large proportion of the corruption cases handled by the Corruption 
Eradication Commission (KPK) involve procurements for public projects. Commission 
deputy chairman Erry Riyana Harjapamekas talks to The Jakarta Post's M. 
Taufiqurrahman about the body's challenges and strategies to handle procurement-related 
cases.

Question: What is the proportion of procurement-related cases that you 
handle? 

Answer: It's quite significant, around 60 percent of cases. Most involve 
markups -- prices and quantities of supplies are inflated. We have also found 
cases involving the payment of kickbacks. 

But the most prevalent and tough to handle are the markup cases. But 
procurement-related corruption is not an Indonesian phenomenon. In most parts of the 
world, procurement is an area where most corruption takes place, either in 
Africa, Asia or America. 

What efforts have been made to tackle these cases? 

The KPK has a two-pronged strategy to deal with this. First we have brought 
to trial a number of people involved in such practices. 

Second, we have carried out a number of preventive measures, most importantly 
introducing information technology, called the "e-procurement" system that 
will lead to "e-auctions" (where the government chooses the lowest bidders for 
state projects). 

However these measures are still a long way off; currently we are working on 
what we call "e-announcements", the announcement of procurements in government 
projects over the Internet. 

Newspapers (where such announcements are usually printed) have distribution 
limitations -- with the Internet such problems can be mitigated. The 
Information and Communications Ministry has given the project to the National 
Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), which is the only institution with the 
competence to announce government projects. 

But the program has been met with resistance from those whose interests could 
be undermined by it. Those people are officials who fear that they will not 
be able to carry on their rent-seeking activities. These are the people who 
have had to pay contributions to their colleagues, superiors, or even political 
parties. 

Given the deeply entrenched corruption in the system will this e-announcement 
project work? 

This is just the beginning. We just want to promote transparency, which we 
find extremely difficult. Most government officials still think that if the 
information is profitable for them: "why share it with others?" The officials 
don't realize that the information belongs to the public and the public must have 
access to it. 

How long will it take to start the "e-auctions" campaign? 

We will need a year to implement e-announcements and two years for 
e-procurements. Some state-owned enterprises and ministries have already initiated 
e-auctions but not without obvious downsides. In e-auctions, bidders win government 
jobs by offering the lowest possible prices and this has proved to be 
harmful. We need to set a standard price for every item we buy. 

Maybe one indicator of the success of the KPK's war against corruption is the 
reported refusal of many government officials to become leaders of government 
projects. Your comment? 

These people are afraid because they fear they will not be able to make any 
money. So the government should not mislead the public by saying that the 
stepped-up antigraft drive has dissuaded government officials from taking up their 
duties. 

The truth is that they are afraid because they are corrupt. It is now time to 
find clean officials to take over government projects, young people brimming 
with idealism. But these young people should not be burdened with an 
obligation to make contributions to their superiors, colleagues or political parties. 

But doesn't that mean that corruption still prevails? 

At least the fear (among officials) indicates that the anticorruption 
campaign has made a difference, although it does not spring from a genuine intention 
of shying away from corruption, but from a fear of failing to make any money. 
What we have learned from other countries, which have successfully campaigned 
against graft, is that in the beginning the campaigns slow down systems but in 
the end they lead to cleaner societies. 

Is there any plan to take on ministries notorious for little transparency 
such as the Defense Ministry and the Public Works Ministry, the ministries 
perceived as most corrupt according to a Transparency International study? 

Yes, there is. Even without reports from the public, we will do our own 
investigations or at least conduct studies on the institutions. After this, we will 
decide what steps have to be taken, punitive or preventive. However, we are 
not police or prosecutors, who come only to put out a fire. 

We will generally investigate the big cases; if "big fish" are involved -- at 
least a general, minister or director general -- and the state loses billions 
of rupiah in the cases. 

As for ministries, I think the Public Works Ministry still ranks as the most 
corrupt (in the TI perception index) followed by the Defense Ministry. 

What about criticism the KPK has failed to live up to public expectations? 

We have never claimed to be successful in all our efforts, but it is naive to 
measure our success by making a comparison between how much the government 
has spent on the KPK and the public money that has been recovered from our 
efforts. 

Apart from punitive measures, we also carry out preventive measures, 
something that cannot easily be quantified. 

I think we would consider our campaign a success if within 12 years we could 
improve the (TI Corruption Perception Index rating from the present 2.2. to 
6.6 
(out of a "clean" score of 10). 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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