Pengarahan pada Seminar `Conflict Interest` oleh KPK

TRANSCRIPT
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
H.E. DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT SEMINAR ON
“CONFLICT OF INTEREST”
ORGANIZED BY
THE INDONESIAN ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
AND
ADB/OECD ANTI-CORRUPTION INITIATIVE
STATE PALACE, 6 AUGUST 2007


Bismillahirrahmanirrahiim,
Excellencies Ministers, Members of the Parliament, Ambassadors, The Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, Speakers of the Seminar,
Distinguished Guests and Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you all to Jakarta, especially our guests from overseas.

I am so pleased to see many international experts and representatives of countries in the region together with Indonesian experts and stakeholders gathered here to discuss the issue of Conflict of Interests. It is a concept, which I believe every one of us knows well but most probably lack knowledge on how to implement it. Conflict of interests is a subject matter that is entirely relevant to our common efforts to fight corruption.


Ever since day one at office, anti-corruption has been at the top of my agenda. I have long regarded corruption as public enemy number one. That is why the first thing that I did as President was to enter into political contracts of integrity with all members of my Cabinet on anti-corruption. We are now pursuing what is said to be the most aggressive anti-corruption campaign in the history of Indonesia,

It is in that very context that I welcome and highly value your deliberations today. And I commend the organizers for taking this constructive initiative.

The discussions of conflict of interests begin with our definition and understanding on the management of public and private assets and revenues.

The need to differentiate between public assets and goods on the one hand, and private interests on the other did not really occupy governments until the late 19th century.

The notion of separating between public authorities and private interests may have been recognized in the “Rechts-staat” concept as developed in central Europe as well as in concepts defined in Napoleonic administrative solutions. Both concepts still have strong impact on the judicial and administrative processes in many countries, including in Indonesia.

The separation between public and private interests is clearly applied to protect public assets from being misused or embezzled. But it also provides a guarantee for a fair and impartial public decision-making, which is a cornerstone of a democratic state and good governance.

I therefore am convinced that an effective management of Conflict of Interests is not only a matter of protecting public assets or to uphold the rule of law, but it is also very much a precondition for a state – or indeed a government - to enjoy the trust and confidence of its citizens.

The Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) has defined that a conflict of interest arises “when a public official has private-capacity interests which could improperly influence the performance of his or her official duties and responsibilities”.

With this definition, a situation implying Conflict of Interests can possibly emerge at the earliest stage even before a possible inappropriate behavior has taken place. This is extremely important, as it requires public officials to avoid putting themselves in a dangerous position and situation where conflict of interests can be easily suspected.

It is no secret that Indonesia’s history includes a long period where conflicts of interests were neglected and public duties, authorities, and assets systematically were used for private gains.

These practices, applied during more than 30 years, have left a strong legacy which we now must rectify. We must change from now on.

At this stage, much of this legacy not only remains but is still perceived by many in Indonesia as the norms. In Indonesia, Conflict of Interests is seen more as a conflict to be avoided by public officials but not necessarily as a corrupt practice.

I am however pleased that the provisions on avoiding Conflict of Interests as an ethical norm are already present in many Indonesian laws such as the Anti-Corruption Law, the Law on KPK, the Civil Service Law, the Public Prosecution Act, the Law on the Supreme Court, the Capital Market Law and others.

There is yet a definition of the concept common to all existing laws. I also admit that there is a lack of enforcement mechanisms in the laws, partly explained by the vague definitions. This, I believe, is the challenge.

I do strongly believe that the time is therefore ripe to both clarify the concept Conflict of Interest in Indonesia and to improve our methods and mechanisms to protect our system against Conflict of Interests.

The concept must be defined in relevant legislation in a coherent way and feasible protection and enforcement mechanisms must be designed clarifying borderlines and accountabilities.

The concept must be developed through a process involving government agencies, many stakeholders and eventually the Parliament.

This is truly a difficult and challenging process, but we have a strong commitment to incorporate the management of conflict of interests in our overall anti-corruption campaign.

Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now elaborate our strategy in fighting corruption in Indonesia. The basic guideline of my Government’s strategy is to run an effective anti-corruption campaign at ALL levels and we do it INDISCRIMINATELY.

Our strategy is crosscutting through sectors and broadly targeting at inappropriate behavior in all segments of society, especially our public officials.

We are not only focusing our efforts on the punitive action through legal enforcement mechanisms, but also on the preventive measures in the forms of improvement of legal system and massive public campaign and education on anti-corruption.

We are implementing those measures through following strategic steps. First, we are improving the legal and judicial system in Indonesia. Since 1999, a number of laws targeting corruption have been enacted in Indonesia, and I believe that the KPK will have plenty of opportunity to discuss these new laws and measures in the course of your seminar.

Second, we continuously strengthen our capacity building and build more effective institution and anti-corruption bodies involving a wide-range of state auxiliary bodies.

Third, my Government fully realizes that managing people’s expectation is as important as other technical elements. There are many people, including myself, who would have wished for a more rapid progress and dreamt that corruption would have been eradicated overnight. But we are already going as fast as we can, with encouraging results.

Today, corruption is no longer tolerated. Instead, it has been widely seen as social sin, and is subject to investigation and prosecution up to an extent that has never been seen previously in Indonesia. We have managed to create a FEAR FACTOR, once again a Fear Factor making potential perpetrators to think many times over before their commit their unlawful act.

Awareness of corrupt practices has increased among our people. I am pleased that our free media are constantly reporting on corruption or suspected corruption.

The fact that KPK and other law enforcement agencies received more than 20,000 complaints or corruption allegations to date confirms this new spirit taking hold in our country.

We have also produced a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the period 2004 to 2009. The Action Plan, endorsed in February 2005, is considered as living document, meaning that it is open for revisions and adjustments.


Preparation for the law on UN Convention Against Corruption was also part of this Action Plan. I am pleased that in March last year the House of Representatives, our DPR ratified United Nation Convention on Anti-Corruption.

The ratification provides a milestone for Indonesia and it will require us to revise our current anti-corruption legislation to bring it in line with the requirements of the Convention.

We also need to revise the law on KPK based on a ruling by the Constitutional Court, Mahkamah Konstitusi requiring the Anti-Corruption Court be established by a separate law and not, as today, established by the Law on KPK, and that all corruption cases go to one court.

The ongoing revision of our anti-corruption legislation thus provides a window of opportunity to further strengthen and improve our anti-corruption policies.

I am pleased that in recent years, law enforcement agencies including KPK have made important achievements.

KPK, for example, has established itself as one main vehicle to convert our joint endeavor to fight corruption into concrete actions with sustainable outcomes. While KPK initially focused on punitive measures, KPK now also focuses on its important preventive mandate as given by the law on KPK and as reinforced by United Nation Convention on Anti-Corruption.

Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is clear that eradicating corruption is a complex and even sometimes dangerous duty. We in Indonesia even at some point felt it.

At its initial stage, our anti-corruption measures create fear, slow down development process, and affect government’s deliverability. In one theory, it is said J curve and anti-corruption campaign but I keep saying we have to put through this kind of situation at the end of the day will be in better position after we are able to solve this problem, to face the challenge and resistant in combating corruptions.

The long-term challenge here is to build and improve our quality of governance. To do this, we need to focus on continued reform of Indonesia’s crosscutting government functions. This includes areas such as public expenditure, revenue and asset management, as well as the regulatory process. Other important areas include the preparation of high quality regulatory instruments and effective implementation and enforcement of enacted legislation, better civil service human resource and financial management systems.

We also need to continue intensifying our awareness-raising campaigns and civic educational activities even at early formative years.

We need to improve transparency to open wider access and facility for media to fulfill its important role in fighting corruption.

And we need to implement the fundamentals and internationally accepted anti-corruption concepts and standards.

It is TRUE that we must effectively build our own system against corruption and tirelessly refine our own anti-corruption policies. But we can learn from countries that have a positive track record in fighting corruption.

All administrations with an ambition to prevent corruption can adhere to similar, universal principles and concepts.

I am convinced that Indonesia can gain momentum by taking the experiences from other countries and international developments into account in refining our own anti-corruption policies. I also DO hope that our friends can learn from Indonesia’s experiences.

I am convinced that with your invaluable contribution, strong commitment, wisdom, and insight, we would be able to achieve our common goal: A Corruption-Free Society.

With that note, Ladies and Gentlemen and by saying ”Bismillahirahmanirrahiim”, I declare the seminar on “Conflict of Interests” open.

I wish you all a successful seminar. Thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.



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Bureau for Press and Media Affairs
Presidential Household