Sometimes, you’ve just got to laugh at what goes on out here. People living in countries outside Indonesia, must think us folks living here, have the word ‘corruption’ on the brain. The thing is, whether its the guy working the gas pump, the nightclub barman who doesn’t give your chance back, or the Kalimantan police and army, who had 13km pipiline to fill up super-tankers at night, there are a lot of people ‘working a little fiddle’.
Indonesian President SBY was in Cebu, in the central Philippines, last week, taking part in the ASEAN conference. Unknown to him, one of his staff was working hard, to get an angle on the accommodation charges. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.
Graft claim embarrasses RI in Cebu
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian staff attached to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s trip to Cebu, the Philippines, for last week’s ASEAN summit, are accused of asking hotel managers to mark-up official expenses.
Staff from the Indonesian State Secretariat reportedly asked the management of the Shangri-La Hotel in Mactan, Cebu, to increase the listed price charged to the presidential party and offered to split the profit with the hotel’s employees.
“A delegation member came and asked the hotel manager to increase the total expenses that the Indonesian delegation had to pay,” a source with the hotel’s operational affairs told The Jakarta Post.
The manager rejected the request and suggested that the Indonesian staff not humiliate their country further.
“Instead of backing off, the staff offered the manager 40 percent of the margin. But the manager insisted on rejecting the offer,” the source said.
He said that while delegations from Cambodia and Laos, much poorer countries than Indonesia, were attending the summit, only Indonesia’s staff had attempted to bribe the hotel.
Yudhoyono’s contingent to Cebu comprises more than 100 people, including several journalists. The room rate at the Shangri-La is between US$250 and $400 a night. The President regularly travels abroad with a large staff.
Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng denied the allegations, saying it would have been illogical for the staff to ask for a markup as they knew the hotel had charged all delegates the same rate.
“All ASEAN delegates stay at the same hotel with the same rate. It is impossible for the hotel to apply different rates. All of us know this,” he told the Post.
Indonesian Corruption Watch coordinator Teten Masduki described the incident in Cebu as “humiliating” for Indonesia, saying that it was just the tip of the iceberg of the country’s corruption problems.
He said marking up travel expenses had become the culture among government officials in Indonesia.
“It’s like exposing Indonesia’s prevalent corruption to the international community. But we must admit that it is a public secret that most officials do markups when traveling abroad or out of town,” Teten told the Post.
He said the audit system for travel expenses needed be improved to enable it to track and counter such practices.
Chairman of House of Representatives Commission I for security and international affairs Theo L. Sambuaga asked the government to investigate the markup allegations and to take harsh action to prevent a repeat.
“The perpetrator must be punished if he or she is proven to have been conducting markups. Tough action will send signals that it is not tolerated,” he told the Post.
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like i said it before and i will said again and again in indo coruption is in the culture almost the right thing to do (if you do not corupt is almost something wrong with you!!)very sad. you can see the evidences all over indo the officials houses that as big as taj mahal the question is where they got the money from to build them from the monthly income?? (no secret) it\\\\\\\’s just showed that coruption is nearly an acceptable bahaviour by people in the goverment and almost in every day activities you will encounter officials asking extra money for doing things for you that they dont deserve , that why i\\\\\\\’m not suprise that the presidential entourage doing it.SBY cant even control his own little office let alone indonesia.
Corruption is not just happening in Indonesia. The Australian Wheat Board paid almost AU$300 million in bribes to Saddam Hussein to secure wheat deals with Iraq. How much of what is currently happening in Indonesia even compares to this?
And the Howard govt claims to know nothing about it. I suppose it\’s better to imply that you are stupid, ignorant or incompetent, rather than admit that you are a party to corruption and dishonesty.
We have a by-election coming up in an adjacent electorate in a couple of weeks time. A former Western Australian govt minister was forced to resign after his mobile phone was tapped and the subject of the phone calls [which he had previously denied] were investigated by the Anti Corruption Commission.
It gives me no pleasure to talk like this about my own country, but hopefully it helps to keep things in perspective.
i agreed corruption can occured in all country rich or poor , all i\’m saying is in indo corruption is endemic, we cant get rid off easily sadden me a country that rich with natural recourses like oil , still majority of the population lived hand to mouth existent,in grinding poperty as we could do better if our goverment act respondsibly in sharing that wealth for the benefits of all their countrymen not just a few who has the power to inrich themselves.
well..well…coruption like old song but still occured, money..money…, I love watch people debating and arguing about it and I believe still a lot of nice , clean people but why coruption getting uncontrol especially in indonesia (even in the world). I keep this question in my head or prbably I should ask the expert regarding this matter..and continue my life…life is wonderful,..enjoy..
Regard,
AGUNG - BaliBuddy
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very humiliating… i feel disgusted…