President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, has praised Indonesia, for its anti-corruption efforts. Indonesia has dropped in the corruption rankings, during the last year, largely due to the destabilizing of Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.
Mr. Wolfowitz has a chequered past, previously being the US Ambassador to Indonesia, thereby developing a strong connection with the country. He followed that up by helping to support the ‘war on terror’ in Iraq. He’s a super smart guy and now is pulling no punches, at the World Bank. Many people think the corrupt predecesors in charge of Indonesia, did deals with the World Bank, so that both parties could benefit at the expense of the country. Certainly robbing the country was Suharto’s favourite pastime.
To get Indonesia to get corruption under control, it is necessary to break a particular mindset. Almost everywhere in this country, you will find people in positions of power, ‘gate keepers’ who can open or close a particular channel, whether it be visas, permits, the road, you name it. People often use this position to extort money, and other people accept this as normal.
A friend said to me, that when an Indonesian has had the chance to live overseas for a while, you can see the change. They start to realise how other parts of the world work, and their whole outlook is different. So promoting education and overseas travel, will be ways Indonesia can start to overcome the culture of corruption.
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Any Indonesians currently living in Western Australia and following the recently widely publicised proceedings of the WA Corruption Commission, in regard to the proposed Smiths Beach development in our South West, may even have learned a few tips which they weren’t already aware of.
A WA govt minister has been forced to resign from parliament and other ministers and sundry govt MPs have been wriggling. A former WA premier [who was jailed a few years ago for dishonesty whilst in office] and one of his former ministerial colleagues are seriously implicated.
A prominent powerbroker [formally a member of the main opposition party to the ex-premier] is also allegedly involved. Possible implications also for various councillors, prospective councillors and other “facilitators”. The money trail, naturally enough, allegedly leads back to the proposed developer.
Our present premier is taking extensive action, naturally urged on by the leader of the opposition, to try and save face and public confidence over this matter.
It’s what I always say, Nick, when Indonesia and other countries are criticised for corruption. Yes, it does happen there, but it also happens probably everywhere else too.
Cheers Rex. Sure it happens everywhere. In Britain we read about it in the newspapers. In Indonesia, its on the national TV, local newspapers and the subject of chat at the local warung.
In Bali for example, there is no word for ‘lying’. If you can talk your way out of an obvious situation, you’ve saved face, and that’s good for you. Stealing is okay too, as long as its ‘being naughty’, rather than aggressive. Example, someone picking up my helmet and carring it off to ’show his friend’, or an person in an internet cafe handing me my change and saying ‘okay Boss?’…deliberately shortchanging me and handing over the rest when I find out. ‘But you said okay…ha, ha, ha’. Naughty gets stretched a long way over here, and no one is above working an angle. Its fully entrenched.
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