Category Archives: corruption

July 26, 2013 · 05:06

Red handed! (Indonesia)

Don’t get caught…

The first rule of corruption is not to get caught. The star of Indonesia’s latest corruption scandal violated that primary rule. According to The Jakarta Globe, superlawyer Hotma Sitompul was caught handing Rp 100 million ($9,700) to a Supreme Court official. The bribe was allegedly in connection to the prosecution of police general Djoko Susilo.

I’m sure there will be a lot of commentary over the next few weeks expressing outrage. Much of that outrage is well deserved. However, it’s also important to take a moment and remember that many – if not most – Indonesian lawyers are not corrupt. I have met many lawyers who are embarrassed by these sorts of corruption scandals. Some of them have even sacrificed professional opportunities in order to avoid the taint of corruption. So, in the midst of outrage, it’s also important to remember those lawyers who fight the small, constant battles everyday to improve the country’s legal system.

UPDATE (7/30/13): Jakarta Globe has posted more details of the scandal, including reactions from the bar association (Peradi).

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April 11, 2013 · 19:36

Survey says… judicial corruption is still a problem (Indonesia)

My past few posts about Indonesia have mentioned surveys about corruption and the extent of the problem. A new survey by the Indonesian Legal Roundtable suggests that the judiciary’s reputation remains low – amongst the lowest of all government institutions in the country. According to ILR, only 23% of respondents believed judges could not be bribed. 32% believed that businessmen could easily influence the judiciary, while 30% believed political parties could influence the judiciary.

Of course, perception doesn’t always equal reality. These results don’t necessarily tell us the extent of corruption in the judiciary. However, courts do rely upon public opinion for institutional support and depend upon citizens to file cases. With such low confidence ratings, there’s a real risk that, rather than spurring judicial reforms, dissatisfaction with the courts will spur apathy.

For the record, ILR does not mention the Mahkamah Konstitusi and it appears most Indonesians don’t immediately think of the MK when asked to evaluate “the judiciary.” The latest polls I’ve seen about the MK (still several years old) suggest that a majority of people have confidence in the court, but large numbers of people still aren’t fully aware of it or what it does.

For a summary of ILR’s findings, see this Jakarta Post article. For an executive summary of the survey results, see here.

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February 17, 2013 · 18:54

Pay for performance? (Indonesia)

Indonesia’s government has increased raised judicial salaries in an attempt to combat corruption. According to The Jakarta Post, salaries had been set at Rp 1.8 million to Rp 4.5 million ($186 to $465) per month, but will rise to Rp. 10.5-45 million (approx. $1,086-4,657) per month, a tenfold increase. Perhaps even more surprisingly, this makes Indonesian judges amongst the highest paid in Asia (Singapore’s are the highest overall).

The Supreme Court has stated its hope that this move will reduce corruption within the judiciary. The logic goes that judges will be less tempted to accept bribes. However, there is little empirical evidence that simply increasing the salaries of public servants decreases corruption. To some extent, public officials will not need to resort to corruption in order to survive. However, plenty of corrupt officials have continued engaging in corruption even after becoming rich. Suharto reaped billions, thousands of times what he would have needed to live a comfortable lifestyle. Cross-national research on corruption is notoriously unreliable (for a review of the literature, see Treisman (2007)).
Overall, this is an encouraging move. It’s hard to imagine any significant downsides to increasing judicial salaries. Even if it doesn’t reduce corruption overnight, it might make the judiciary a more attractive career for the best and brightest lawyers.

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January 15, 2013 · 15:58

Sex and the Courtroom (Indonesia)

I’ve always said Indonesians are some of the most creative politicians in the world when it comes to corruption. The DPR is drafting a new bribery law, and several commentators, including Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD, argue that the law should include sexual favors within the definition of bribery. According to Mahfud’s comments in The Jakarta Globe, businesses and politicians have employed mistresses and prostitutes as lobbyists.

Mahfud acknowledges that prosecuting “sexual bribery” will be difficult. However, he doesn’t ever suggest that there would be a constitutional problem with including “sexual bribery” in the law. Of course, this raises the question of why Mahfud is commenting on the law. Given public outrage over corruption, one can’t help but wonder if this is another instance of Mahfud positioning himself for a presidential run.

However, some judges are clearly not running for popularity contests. Daming Sunusi, a judge from Banjarmasin, East Kalimantan, recently appeared in the DPR for his “fit and proper” test. According to The Jakarta Post, when asked about the death penalty for rapists, he cautioned, “Both the victims of rape and the rapist might have enjoyed their intercourse together, so we should think twice before handing down the death penalty.” Perhaps it’s wise that U.S. Supreme Court nominees remain absolutely silent when appearing before the Senate.

UPDATE (1/16/12): According to The Jakarta Post, it looks like the Judiciary Commission is not only not recommending Daming Sunusi for the Supreme Court, but also investigating whether he violated judicial ethics with his rape comments.

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October 30, 2012 · 02:47

We don’t have no corruption here… (Myanmar/Burma)

One thing I’ve said repeatedly is that I’m worried Myanmar’s judiciary is going the way of Indonesia’s, at least to the extent that Reformasi did not tackle judicial corruption when they had the chance. This is why I worry when I saw Justice U Soe Nyunt’s testimony in the Pyithu Hluttaw last week. According to The New Light of Myanmar, the justice claimed that allegations of corruption were merely hearsay. Perhaps, but only because researchers and journalists haven’t ben able to do the type of rigorous research needed to expose corruption.

Fortunately, the Hluttaw Rule of Law Committee is allegedly working on a judicial reform bill, so the issue isn’t being completely ignored. However, much of what we’re heard publicly from the NLD focuses on “judicial independence”. I hope the government recognizes that courts need both independence and accountability.

The New Light of Myanmar reprinted below:

Alleged cases of corruption at different levels of courts not hold water: Supreme Court Judge

Nay Pyi Taw, 25 Oct- As the Pyithu Hluttaw session continued for the sixth day, U Than Tun of Debayin Constituency raised a question about measures for fighting against corruption at court at different levels and U Myint Tun of Kawthoung Constituency about measures of the Supreme Court of the Union for strengthening of judicial pillar, a proposal approved by Pyithu Hluttaw.

Judge of the Supreme Court of the Union U Soe Nyunt described the alleged corruption at different levels of courts from the ground as misleading hearsay without creditability. The Supreme Court of the Union he said has issued instructions to prevent against bribery, corruption, fraud and negligence of judges and personnel at different levels of courts. Such measures as multi-level enforcement, punitive actions against failure to observe instructions and investigation and punishment on receiving complaints are in practice to enforce the instructions. As regards the question of U Myint Tun, he replied that the Supreme Court of the Union has prepared itself to take advices as necessary if the other three pillars are to support the judicial branch. He reckoned that the Supreme Court of the Union would not need to issue law, by-law, order and instruction with regard to proposal passed by the Pyithu Hluttaw. -NLM

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Filed under Burma, corruption, Myanmar, Supreme Court