Jakarta, IO – “Prabowo-Gibran: “We will fix what needs to be fixed. We will enforce what needs to be enforced, and we are determined to eradicate corruption at its roots.”
The statement was expressed by Prabowo Subianto, the No. 2 candidate for president, in his first presidential debate, as reported by the news agency ANTARA (December 12, 2023).
The No. 2 presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, have officially been elected as President and Vice President for the 2024–2029 term of office, based on an announcement by the General Election Commission (KPU) on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka secured 96,214,691 votes, far ahead of Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (AMIN) with 40,971,906 votes and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD with 27,040,878 votes.
Corruption eradication is included in the 7th Mission of “Asta Cita”, advocated by Prabowo-Gibran in the official document, “Bersama Indonesia Maju Menuju Indonesia Emas 2045,” which is stated as “Strengthening Political, Legal, and Bureaucratic Reforms, as well as Strengthening Corruption and Drug Prevention and Eradication.” Prabowo-Gibran also includes corruption prevention and eradication programs in their “17 Priority Programs,” which explicitly state that corruption has negative impacts on the economy and society; thus, eradicating corruption must be achieved through a balanced elimination of the benefits obtained by corruptors and restoring state financial losses.
Prabowo-Gibran promises to combat corruption
According to The Heritage Foundation (2022), one component of economic freedom is the rule of law, with its three indicators. First, property rights. The legal framework within a country must provide assurance and security for people to engage in economic activities. Protected property rights can give people the confidence to improve their abilities, trade, engage in entrepreneurship, save, invest, and participate in other vital economic activities.
The second indicator is government integrity. Government integrity can uphold the implemented legal framework or the potential ones to eliminate corrupt practices such as embezzlement, fraud, extortion, nepotism and others. Moreover, government integrity ensures the government’s presence to protect individual and economic freedom, rather than intervening with excessive policies that may distort the economy.
The last indicator is judicial effectiveness. The existing legal framework must operate fairly, efficiently, and effectively under its mandate to protect the rights of all citizens from unlawful acts. Even in cases of violations, judicial effectiveness must ensure appropriate legal action against perpetrators.
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As previously stated, Prabowo-Gibran’s 7th mission of the Asta Cita program emphasizes measures that combat corruption through political, legal, and governance reforms. Political reform outlines four programs; legal reform offers twenty; and governance reform explains twenty-six. To summarize, four programs will be selected for each reform, as shown in Table 1.
In general, Prabowo-Gibran’s political, legal, and governance reforms support the role of the Rule of Law in economic freedom. Implementing an accountable, fair, transparent, and impartial rule of law demands leadership with equitable aspects. As the elected President and Vice President, Prabowo-Gibran must achieve the pledges of political, legal, and governance reforms, based on economic freedom to prevent corrupt practices, over the next five years. To root out corruption, there has to be improvement in government institutions, including government officials and leaders. Mr. Prabowo and Mr. Gibran, we wish to have no more corruption in our country.