Soapbox Part Dua: Corruption at the core

Written: March 17
WARNING: I’m climbing back on the soap-box a bit and without real facts or research, just my experiences and uninformed opinions!

I mentioned corruption briefly in my last soapbox moment as well as a few other previous posts, but thought that I would dedicate a whole blog to it now.

The level of corruption in daily life in Indonesia is truly atrocious and it is THE limiting factor to Indo’s growth. The sad part is that everyone knows it. I have had conversations about it with people I have just met and to a person, everyone says it’s a very bad thing, but when it comes to it they all partake in it. Thus the amount of actual change is very little and progressing slowly. But hey it is a young country emerging from a political culture of extreme nepotism.
That’s not an excuse though; if Indonesia wants to be a global power (and frankly it is positioned to be one if it gets itself straightened out) it must eliminate the everyday corruption. That’s the difference here and in the US or other countries. I’m not naïve enough to say that we don’t have corruption, but on a daily basis we do not run into road blocks thrown up just to make some money, or find it necessary to pay the police for them to do their jobs. And that’s the problem here in Indonesia: the corruption literally runs from top to bottom; from the lowliest local politician living in a gaudy house while his neighbors live in shacks to the vice president being embroiled in the big Century Bank scandal.
In my opinion, the majority of the corruption is due to individuals finally coming into power and feeling that it is now their turn to earn a buck. As I mentioned Indonesia is just now emerging from the rule of Suharto and his extreme levels of KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism). Basically all of today’s leaders were raised in a culture where KKN was standard and expected. So now that they are the leaders, they feel it is their right to be able to make some money as well. And that’s what it comes down to, people need/want more money, and there is simply not enough to go around. For years, Indonesia has been brutally exploited (there is no other word for it) by numerous colonial powers. The primary culprit was the Dutch who invested a stunningly little amount into infrastructure for the country considering they ruled for centuries. The result is that the everyday citizen has little while the rulers/powerful business owners are wealthy. The normal people see that and of course want a piece, so then when they get a chance to step into a role of power they take the opportunity to set themselves (and their families) for life.
The complicated thing is that in the Indonesian culture it is important to treat your superiors (conventionally this is meant to be your elders, but the politicians have stepped into that role as well) and everyone else for that matter, with a great deal of respect. One fairly common practice is to bring gifts to people when you work with them or visit them, and of course if they are your superior the gift should be a little nicer (another side effect of treating everyone with respect is that I am constantly bombarded with ‘hello mister’!). This is great and all, but at times it becomes very difficult to separate what is corruption, and what is simply being ‘Indonesian polite’.
Unfortunately I don’t have any remedies for this one either if I did, they wouldn’t let me leave this country, they would insist I become president. Well assuming I bribed the right people at least! Really though the only remedy to NKK is time and strong leaders willing to buck the trend so that the accepted status-quo is not taking bribes. Hopefully that time will come, and the start of it may be happening right now as the first step is recognition and that is certainly not lacking anywhere in this country. Now there just need to be people brave and strong enough to actually do something.
Good luck Indonesia!