Indonesia: Corruption scandals escalate as election nears

Indonesia has been hit by a series of corruption scandals whereby several leading officials have been accused of wrongdoing.

The latest allegation came against the former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo. Earlier this month, the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Limpo in his apartment in south Jakarta for suspected corruption and extortion while in office. His case is still ongoing.

Limpo sparked public debate as he was scheduled to arrive in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, on October 1 after seeking medical treatment abroad. However, he had been missing for several days and returned after the Nasdam Party Chairman Surya Paloh urged him to come home.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in his second and final term. As a result, the southeast Asian country is expected to face a more competitive general election in 2024.

Who else is mentioned in the corruption scandals?

Besides Limpo, two ministers and one former minister have also been suspected of corruption in separate investigations. Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi is being investigated as a witness of alleged bribery over railroad construction and maintenance.

Meanwhile, Sports and Youth Minister Dito Ariotedjo is said to have accepted 27 billion rupiah ($1.72 million, €1.62 million) in alleged bribery related to a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project. He denied the allegation while on the witness stand in a corruption trial involving Former Minister of Communication and Information Technology Johnny G. Plate.

Plate's trial began in June 2023 and has been charged with alleged corruption over the construction of mobile phone transmission towers in remote parts of the country. His case is also still ongoing.

Lack of due diligence

Zaenur Rohman, a researcher from the Gadjah Mada University Center for Anti-corruption Studies (Pukat UGM), said the recent scandals could be an indicator of poor due diligence from Widodo, who is more commonly known as Jokowi, during the recruitment process for ministerial candidates.

"There is no process for assessing the track record, background, and leadership of prospective ministers. Why? Because we prioritize more accommodating the needs of supporting parties and volunteers who supported the president. So the candidate's capacity, integrity and so on, is not being seen as a very important factor," Zaenur Rohman told DW.

In his second term, Jokowi is known to have accommodated people from many political views to work as his ministers, including his rival Prabowo Subianto. This has left his government with minor and often insignificant opposition.

Nevertheless, Rohman noted that political rivals may have played a role in the downfall of the accused.

"And that's a good thing. It is better for these elites to expose each other instead of covering up for each other," Rohman said.

The archipelagic country is scheduled to hold a general election in February 2024. Some 204 million eligible voters are set to choose their new president and vice president, as well as national and regional parliamentary members.

Other former ministers convicted of corruption

During Jokowi's presidency, four former ministers have already been convicted of corruption and put in jail.

In August 2021, former Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara was sentenced to 12 years in prison over a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 graft scandal.

Former Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nahrawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of 400 million rupiah in June 2020 after he was found guilty of corruption related to the provision of grants, as well as gratuities amounting to 8.3 billion rupiah.

Former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Edhy Prabowo was found guilty of bribery related to lobster seed export permits and was sentenced to 5 years in prison in mid-2021. Meanwhile, in April 2019, former Minister of Social Affairs Idrus Marham was convicted of corruption for receiving bribes. He was sentenced to three years in jail and fined 150 million rupiah.

Corruption perception index dropped

Wawan Heru Suyatmiko, deputy secretary-general of Transparency International Indonesia, believes the issue of corruption is systemic within Indonesian politics.

"There is something called political corruption, which is often denied or ignored as unimportant because it may not harm the country's finances, but this is important," he told DW.

He then cited the example of changing the law to legitimatize the desire for power for a group of people, or so-called autocratic legalism.

The Corruption Perception Index 2022 issued by Transparency International (TI) showed Indonesia's levels of corruption had worsened, leaving the country below Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in the index.

Edited by: John Silk