Jakarta, IO – “He (ex-tax official Rafael Alun Trisambodo) took too much ill-gotten money. If he took just small amounts, it’s okay. Because he got too greedy, God was angry (with him)” (Melchias Markus Mekeng, House Committee XI member from the Golkar faction).
Inflection point. That is perhaps the apt phrase to describe the current state of the ongoing corruption eradication drive in Indonesia. Not only because the government’s anticorruption performance is increasingly sluggish, but because the boundaries between public and private affairs are becoming blurrier. In the fields of administration, politics and law, the government is under greater pressure, especially after Reformasi, where an array of conflicts of interest in decision-making take place in plain view. Holding concurrent positions, public officials running private businesses, bribing judges to resolve court cases, to high-ranking police officer selling seized drugs to dealers are just some examples. This phenomenon signals that the democratic accountability of power is being severely disrupted.
Even though the government, through a deluge of public statements emphasizing its serious commitment to corruption eradication, the public remains skeptical. According to anti-graft NGO Transparency International (TI), Indonesia’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score in 2022 dropped sharply, from 38 to 34 – on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The country ranked 110th out of 180 countries surveyed, on par with countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gambia, Malawi, Nepal and Sierra Leone. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is far behind Singapore (83), Malaysia (47) and Vietnam (42). This means that in the 2021-22 period, the global community held an increasingly negative perception/ sentiment towards Indonesia’s corruption eradication program. TI even explicitly states that the decline in Indonesia’s GPA score in 2022 is the worst in 2 decades. (FIGURE-1)
If we refer to the chart above, Indonesia’s anticorruption performance has been fluctuating over a six-year period, from a high of 20 in 2004. As the anti-corruption approach shifted along with a change in government/ regime, Indonesia has remained stuck in a “red zone.” The result in 2022 showed that during 19 years of efforts to eradicate corruption, Indonesia has failed to move the needle past the score of 1 each year, on average.
Corruption: Disease or symptom?
Along with a perception of deteriorating performance in corruption eradication, the phenomenon of corruption at various levels of government, including at the heart of state treasury – the Finance Ministry (Kemenkeu) – has been laid bare. Rafael Alun Trisambodo, a middle-ranking official at the Taxation Directorate General (DJP) under Kemenkeu, has been named a suspect in an alleged gratification case by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). He is also being investigated for criminal money-laundering. KPK suspects that he has abused his position and accumulated his ill-gotten assets over 12 years.
In his Public Official Asset Declaration (LHKPN), Trisambodo reported his wealth at Rp56 billion. However, following a further investigation, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) found an unreported deposit of Rp37 billion in foreign currency. The financial intelligence agency also reported transactions worth Rp500 billion in 40 accounts allegedly owned by Trisambodo and his family members and the tax consulting firms they set up.
Based on PPATK findings in the 2009-22 period, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD dropped another bombshell, that there was Rp349 trillion worth of transactions suspected to be money-laundering acts by Kemenkeu staff. This has brought a spotlight onto suspicious jaw-dropping transactions involving the DJP, Customs & Excise Directorate General (DJBC) and hundreds of State Civil Apparatus (ASN), as well as private sector entities and individuals.
Not long afterwards, KPK launched an investigation into alleged deduction/manipulation of performance allowances at the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry which took place between 2020-22 involving 10 employee in the ministry’s finance department, with state losses estimated to be between Rp20 trillion to Rp30 billion.