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Strengthening anti-corruption efforts in Indonesia



Jakarta (Indonesia), 26 January 2011
- As part of a series of events surrounding International Anti-Corruption Day 2010, UNODC Indonesia held several events to support the fight against corruption. On December 22, UNODC organized a seminar on corruption prevention and the involvement of civil society.

The seminar was opened by Mr. Teten Masduki, Secretary General of Transparency International Indonesia, who discussed Indonesia's position towards Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. He also talked about the negative perception of Indonesia projected by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy survey, an annual survey of foreign business executives. The survey states that Indonesia and Thailand are perceived as Asia's most corrupt economies.

Mr. Adnan Topan Husodo, Vice Coordinator of Indonesia's Corruption Watch, provided an overview of corruption prone sectors according to activities monitored by monitoring Corruption Watch. Mr. Adnan's presentation laid out the patterns of corruption in Indonesia by industry sector. He included statistics regarding total state loss and the current status of cases under investigation.

Another speaker, Mr. Berry Nahdian Forqan, Executive Director of the Indonesian Forum for Environment, presented on the status quo of environmental corruption in Indonesia. His presentation spoke of the different modus operandi of environmental crimes including illegal logging and illegal mining, and how such crimes strongly affect state losses, the local community and the environment.



The afternoon session sought solutions in the fight against corruption and looked to what civil society can do to strengthen prevention efforts.

Mr. Guntur Kusmeyano, of the Public Education and Services Bureau of the Corruption Eradication Commission, presented the mandates of the Corruption Eradication Commission and what each mandate involves. He mentioned that civil society's role in supporting Corruption Eradication Commission's duties are essential in creating a transparent society.

The final speaker of the afternoon session was Mr. Bambang Harymurti, Deputy Chair of the Press Council, who spoke of the reforms that the media had played a major role in initiating, starting with the fall of the new order regime. He explained that: "The media acts as a tool in the fight against corruption. The Government needs to use the media more if it wants to completely eradicate corruption in Indonesia, and civil society should do the same. The support that the media can provide will mobilize public opinion and disseminate information to the public who deserves to know the truth".

All speakers provided a comprehensive overview of the overall situation and gave input to how the forum could be improved in the future.

This seminar was organized as part of a Norway funded project designed to strengthen the capacity of anti-corruption institutions in Indonesia. 56 non-governmental organizations from around Indonesia participated, including the 15 NGO grantees that directly fall under this project.