ANTI-CORRUPTION REFORM RESHAPING INDONESIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001815 MCC FOR AMBASSADOR DANILOVICH AND MORFORD MCC FOR MARIA LONGI MCC FOR DEPUTY CEO RODNEY BENT DEPT FOR E - U/S JEFFERY DEPT FOR EEB A/S SULLIVAN DEPT FOR EAP DAS MARCIEL AND EB/IFD DAS DAVID NELSON DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EEB/IFD/OIA, INL SNYDER, INL ROESS USAID FOR ADMINISTRATOR FORE USAID FOR DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR KUNDER AND ANE WARD USAID/ODP FOR KAREN TURNER AND PETER DELP USAID/ANE FOR STEPHAN SOLAT TREASURY FOR A/S LOWERY TREASURY/IA FOR RACHEL BAYLY DEPT PASS USTR FOR SCHWAB DEPT PASS USTR FOR ELENA BRYAN DEPT PASS USTR FOR FRAN HEUGEL DEPT PASS USTR FOR AUSTR BARBARA WEISEL OMB FOR JACQUELINE STRASSER DOJ FOR CRIM AAG SWARTZ DOJ/OPDAT FOR ALEXANDRE/LEHMANN/JOHNSON SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KMCA KCOR ECON KJUS ID SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION REFORM RESHAPING INDONESIA JAKARTA 00001815 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Although corruption remains endemic, Indonesia is making continued progress to root it out. In the past six months, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested six Members of Parliament in six separate scandals. Challenges remain: limited resources, legal challenges, and uncertain political will. Indonesia is in the initial years of a long-term process to reduce corruption throughout the country. And U.S. assistance to Indonesia is institutionalizing anti-corruption reform successes. End summary. High-level corruption arrests highlight 2008 progress -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Indonesia apprehended several high-level corruptors in ¶2008. Parliament has long been considered one of the most corrupt, yet also untouchable, institutions in Indonesia. That immunity ended in 2008. In the past six months, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested six Members of Parliament - from both government coalition and opposition parties - in six separate scandals. And other senior Members of Parliament, including the Budget Commission head, might fall soon. ¶3. (SBU) The KPK has also focused its attention on corruption within the Attorney General's Office. The KPK caught Urip Tri Gunawan, a senior AG prosecutor, red-handed with a $600,000 bribe in March. Within six months of the arrest, the Anti-Corruption Court sentenced Urip to 20 years in prison and sentenced the businessperson who passed the bribe to five years. ¶4. (SBU) The KPK is also investigating other high-level officials, including ministers Paskah Suzetta (National Development Planning) and M.S. Kaban (Forestry). In mid-September, the KPK arrested a Commissioner of the Business Competition Oversight Unit, an independent government body that rules on monopoly cases. In February, the KPK sentenced a former head of the National Logistics Agency to ten years in prison. The KPK also arrested former central bank head Burhanuddin Abdullah for corruption related to illegal payments to Parliament. Earlier in the year, the KPK raided the Tax & Customs office at Indonesia's largest port, exposing many corrupt practices and cash bribes in desks. Building institutions for anti-corruption reform -------------- --- ¶5. (SBU) Eradicating corruption remains a central pillar of President Yudhoyono's overall governing strategy and political agenda. And the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is the independent government institution leading this effort. The KPK has the authority to conduct investigations and then try cases in the specialized Anti-Corruption Court. While the KPK is the new headline independent government body tasked to lead corruption, the Attorney General's Office is the larger, more permanent institutional presence. The Attorney General's Office and police handle over 95% of all corruption cases nationwide whereas the KPK handles fewer than 5%. Separately, President Yudhoyono has created the Office of Government Procurement Policy to tackle the inefficiency and problems within the government procurement system, a major source of corruption. On the military front, President Yudhoyono appointed former KPK Commissioner Erry Hardjapamekas to lead the Defense Department's 150-person business divestiture unit. Under Hardjapamekas' leadership, the initiative to divest the JAKARTA 00001815 002.2 OF 003 military of its businesses is moving forward after three years of inaction, although long-term success will require significant Defense Department budget increases. ¶6. (SBU) Increased personnel help to explain the rising tempo of operations at the KPK. The KPK has nearly doubled the number of investigators (111 now) and prosecutors (28 now) since 2005. The KPK's long-term strategy balances prosecution and prevention. The KPK is on track to conduct more investigations in 2008 than any previous year and is maintaining the prosecution case load. Regarding prevention, the KPK is leading wider government reform, including working with the Supreme Court to better account for case fees and promote better governance and case management with the support of the USAID-managed MCC Threshold Program. ¶7. (SBU) Damaged by the Urip bribery scandal, the AGO is also moving to strengthen its capacity. Indonesian AG Supandji inaugurated the AGO's Anti-Corruption Task Force during AG Mukasey's June 2008 visit. This U.S.-supported task force of 50 prosecutors will receive additional resources to investigate and prosecute corruption cases nationwide. The task force is untested as it just began to receive its first cases, but the task force leader has a credible corruption prosecution record. Separately, the AGO initiated broader bureaucratic reforms in coordination with the Ministry of Finance in September. Strong anti-corruption reform leadership -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The second group of KPK commissioners began their four-year team in January clouded with suspicion of the new commissioners' bona fides and reform credentials. Some activists interpreted current KPK head Antasari Azhar's questionable confirmation hearing comments as a sign that he would not prosecute Members of Parliament. Quite the opposite occurred: Parliament has been the KPK's number one target in 2008. The KPK brought corruption charges against six Members of Parliament and is investigating others. Our legal, law enforcement, and NGO contacts broadly agree that the KPK's leadership is cause for optimism. In September, President Yudhoyono appointed leading anti-corruption reform scholar and activist Denny Indrayana to be Presidential advisor on legal affairs. While the post has no direct authorities, bringing Indrayana and civil society perspectives directly into the President's Office is notable. Passing Anti-Corruption Court bill next big marker -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The biggest threat to Indonesia's anti-corruption reform agenda would be failure to pass the Anti-Corruption Court Law. If the Anti-Corruption Court is not reauthorized by December 2009, the KPK would prosecute corruption cases in the regular courts, which are of uneven quality and subject to corruption. The KPK has successfully prosecuted 100% of its cases before the Anti-Corruption Court. The key element in the Anti-Corruption Court's success is the continued use of independent, non-career "ad hoc" judges. With 2009 elections on the horizon, the legislative calendar is shortened and enthusiasm by Members of Parliament is reduced due to the string of recent Parliamentary arrests by the KPK. Human resources remain another institutional challenge for both the KPK and AGO in combating corruption. The KPK's human resource improvements (e.g., JAKARTA 00001815 003.2 OF 003 nearly doubling prosecutors at KPK since 2005) must be placed in perspective: there are 28 prosecutors supported by 111 investigators for a country of 240 million people. Corruption fight continues, trajectory positive -------------- -- ¶10. (SBU) There is hardly a day when a high-level corruption scandal is not on the front page of Indonesian dailies. Are the KPK arrests exposing just the tip of the iceberg? Our contacts generally agree that the government's anti-corruption drive is making progress. In 2008, Indonesia improved its score on the World Bank's "Control of Corruption" indicator and Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The KPK is taking a more aggressive stance through its increased personnel, record of success, and strong mandate. And the Attorney General's Office is taking on important reforms, particularly the Anti-Corruption Task Force and internal bureaucratic reforms. The government is making an impact: the arrests of six Members of Parliament in six separate cases in 2008 speak to the growing strength and commitment of anti-corruption reform in Indonesia. HUME