Corruption and Indonesian Civil Society Organisations Richard Holloway Program Adviser on Anti-corruption and Civil Society, Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia

CSOs fighting corruption: CSOs susceptible to corruption What do we know about each group? Is there any cross-over? What can we recommend? “Corruption is the norm in Indonesia, not the exception”

Government, Business and Civil Society – where is corruption most likely? to rule and to govern Business: to make profits Civil Society: - to enable citizens to associate - to improve the lives of the citizens to hold the other two sectors accountable to the citizens

Definitions of Corruption Transparency International: The misuse of entrusted power for private benefit Corruption for NGOs: Behaviour for personal gain, or for the benefit of another person or organisation, by people who claim to represent an independent non-profit organisation which works for the public good

Corruption in Indonesia Systemic corruption within the civil service and armed forces - positions bought and sold - tax office extorts payments - govt. budgets based on slush funds - patronage networks of illicit income Systematic state plundering by Suharto Astonishing stealing from state recovery program

Strong Rhetorical Call for an end to KKN since Reformasi Very little action All anti-corruption initiatives betrayed by political power games Increase in “democratic corruption” (decentralization, party politics) Very little prosecution Attention to high profile cases, not to systemic corrupt practices

Anti-Corruption NGOs (1) The only real activists against KKN In Jakarta and throughout most of the country Strongly supported by the Press High profile Sincere and principled

Anti – Corruption NGOs (2) didn’t exist before 1998 – except human rights NGOs many driven by desire to punish big fish culture of “demos” few horizontal links with other NGOs few addressing systemic corruption

NGOs being Corrupt Pretenders: Venal organisations using the mask of an NGO Well-intentioned: NGOs using corrupt practices to benefit the NGO Blurring the lines: as high principles move into bad practices

Pretenders Red plate NGOs NGIs Profit making contractors remember Suharto’s “foundations” rich pickings in an open field culture of impunity

Well-intentioned Faced with easy foreign funding and difficult rules of engagement, many NGOs hoodwink the donors to benefit their organisations to pay overheads to support the organisation long term to implement “their” projects

Blurring of the lines Corrupt practices require corrupt behaviour Surrounding environment supports corrupt practices Pressure from political parties The culture of “envelopes”

Characteristics of Honest NGOs Recognize the dangers of corruption and include prohibitions in Codes of Ethics Regularly check their activities against their mission Learn about corrupt financial practices so as to recognize them Be accountable to the people you aim to be helping

Recommendations: to pro-mote more anti-corruption NGOs branches in all districts membership organisations with local funding training in understanding systemic corruption regular links to local media links to other NGOs and citizens associations

Recommendations: for donors much more user friendly donor practices building organisations not implementing projects expose and prosecute corrupt NGOs

Recommendations for NGOs Create professional associations for NGOs with accepted Codes of Ethics coving corruption Certification of NGOs to belong to the professional association Sanction members of the professional association who are found to be corrupt

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