JAKARTA – Corruption is an extraordinary crime that hinders development, damages the nation’s economy, and torments the people.
In an effort to eradicate corruption that is increasingly sophisticated and complex, synergy from various parties is needed by utilizing the latest technology.
This was conveyed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo when opening the 2023 World Anti-Corruption Day (Hakordia) Commemoration held at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday (12/12).
“We need a more systemic joint effort, a more massive joint effort that utilizes the latest technology to prevent corruption,” he said.
He regretted the high rate of corruption that occurred in the country, especially during 2004–2022.
According to him, not only a comprehensive evaluation, but also a strengthening of the corruption prevention system is needed, including improving the quality of human resources of law enforcement officials, the procurement system for goods and services, and various digital-based licensing matters.
The President also underlined that regulations at the law level need to be strengthened, especially related to the law on asset forfeiture of corruption offences.
“On this World Anti-Corruption Day, I invite all of us. Let us together prevent corruption and provide a deterrent effect to officials who commit corruption,” he added.
At the event, which was also attended by Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas, President Jokowi appreciated various applications that have been made by the government as a step to protect itself from potential corruption, such as e-catalogue, online tax, One Single Submission (OSS), and also the Regional Government Information System of the Republic of Indonesia (SIPD-RI).
“We have created many platforms, e-catalogue for example. In the past, only 50,000 items were included. Now there are 7.5 million items entered there. The leap is very fast. I think online tax is also very good. Everything is made into a good application to fence against corruption,” said the Indonesian Head of State.
Digitalisation of the bureaucracy through the Electronic Based Government System (EBGS) is one of the actions to prevent corruption.
The Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform as the national EBGS coordinator continues to accelerate its implementation in various elements of the bureaucracy.
However, he hopes that digitalisation is not interpreted as just an application.
According to him, in government technology (GovTech) currently being developed by the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, interoperability is the main element to integrate various existing systems.
Minister Anas also mentioned that there are other factors that should be taken into account in addressing the problem of corruption in Indonesia.
“Institutionalisation and leadership commitment are also key to preventing and eradicating corruption,” he said.
On this occasion, Minister Anas also inaugurated the SPID-RI application initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs as a general application.
“SIPD-RI is not simply applied as a general application before there are changes in architecture, technology, and also various services that make it easier. Alhamdulillah, today SIPD-RI is launched as a general application,” added the former Head of LKPP.
KPK Chairman Nawawi Pomolango said Hakordia is a marker and reminder that corruption is an enemy.
He emphasized that corruption has a corrosive nature that can erode every achievement that has been achieved.
This year’s Hakordia theme is “Synergy to Eradicate Corruption for Advanced Indonesia”. This is a wake-up call to strengthen the synergy and cooperation of every element of the nation in eradicating corruption.
For him, synergy and the use of information technology is a must.
“Synergy is a necessity to move forward. The government has established EBGS, it is just a matter of how the implementation of EBGS is accelerated by the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform,” he concluded.
