Dompet Berjalan Kaki

Corruption? Indonesia? Really?

Jokes aside, well schooled by the Dutch, Indonesians have honed corruption to a point where it supports the social fabric of the country. Get rid of it and the country will collapse.

Since it became independent after World War II, Indonesia has developed a reputation for skullduggery and corrupt practices that, Jokowi notwithstanding, still flourishes. Do business in Indonesia and you do business with brown envelopes, percentages and pay offs at a scale that is mind boggling. Corruption is as Indonesian as the Rupiah; both are interdependent. Politicians and the scions of business live lives of such luxury, that Marie Antoinette, or even Imelda the Shoe Lady, looks like a pauper in comparison.

In the good old days of Soeharto, when I spent eighteen years in that corrupt but nonetheless amazing and wonderful place, everything was cut and dried. You determined how much your project would cost.  The percentage varies according to the demands of individual provinces. You added about 40% on the top. That was for contingencies.

South Sumatra, where I spent two years in the 1980s, was acknowledged as the greediest. I played golf regularly with the leaders of that lovely place. The way they peeled off millions of dollars to satisfy bets on each hole was arguably the most obscene thing I have every witnessed, short of war. This in full view of the army of servants who followed us round carrying portable fridges, caddying, handing out cool moist napkins to wipe our fevered brows, make sure our balls were in the right position: that sort of thing. For their pains, they might get twenty thousand rupiah: in those days, less than two dollars.

 One argument went that the country would not function without corruption. This line of thought ran that the big boys who got the cake made sure that the crumbs were scattered round for everyone to9 share. I stress the word: crumbs. There was truth to that. Every one fed off the wealthy.

Back to Marie Antoinette: ‘Let them eat cake’.

Corruption permeates every sphere of life in Indonesia: even religion. You want government support? Wink wink, nod nod.

I needed a police report after a house robbery. For insurance claims, of course.

I go to the police. An overweight officer peers at me between piggy eyes masked by sun glasses.

‘How much do you want to claim?’

‘Do you mean, how much was stolen?’

A sigh. Were all foreigners idiots?

‘Starting rate is Rupiah 500,000: US$40. That will give you five million rupiah. Double that for each increment of five million.’

So erudite. His English was impeccable.

Did I pay? I leave you to work that out.

Such ‘requirements’ are the norm for the normal. What about big business? Investment? Indonesia is advertising widely to show itself as a country which is a great investment opportunity.

Great. But:

1.               You want something done quickly, you pay more.

2.              This applies to private enterprise as it does to government.

3.              You need a supply of foolscap sized brown envelopes.

4.              Keep in mind that it’s not enough to pay the head honcho only: behind him is an endless line of needy people. (Have you noticed the needy rhymes with greedy?)

Sure, the government has made a lot of noise about anti-corruption.

‘Look! We have set up the KPK!’ Smiles all round.

‘And that is…? You ask innocently.

)Response in a triumphant voice: ‘The Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission).

You bite your tongue.

Everyone knows what the situation is in Indonesia.

‘Semua bisa diatur (everything is possible)’, is the common explanation. Wink wink, nod nod; fingers rub together (Everything is possible.)

If you were to believe the local press, (which is in fact, freer than its sister in democratic Singapore), the war is being won. It is not. Indonesians have this strange idea that if something is law, it has happened. The important thing is to have the law: whether it is applied or not is unimportant. Scandals? Scheming? Deception?

‘It is in our blood!’

Magazines such as Tempo do run stories that seek to expose the venality of the situation, but it is a case of a dish rag being used to mop up after a tsunami. The printed media has a harder time of it than the electronic media. Television! Who reads papers these days? Social media? Who watches television anymore? The world has changed in Indonesia as well. Corruption has not.

Electronic media such as TV can create greater awareness of corruption. They can go to the source: stand outside the KPK building and look concerned. Does it have an impact?

People simply shake their heads.

So what else is new?’

It is very sad. Indonesia is a wonderful country. The Indonesians are friendly, cultured, charming, welcoming and insistent: you are simply the ‘dompet berjalan kaki’: walking wallet.