TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has not been idle in tackling corruption, but has worked silently to eradicate it, Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said on Tuesday.

“The government is certainly not idle. It can be said to be soundless, but while taking measures (eradicating corruption)," he added.

The minister said that rampant corruption cases are a sign of a decline in democracy. Corruption eradication has not been easy to achieve since long ago because of the judicial mafia, he said.

"The courts are still full of mafia. Before the New Order era, it was called the judicial mafia, but during Mr. SBY’s (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s) era, the name was changed to legal mafia," he noted.

He said the judicial mafia was later known as the legal mafia because they were involved in all sectors of legal development.

“So, those who created laws were corrupt, those who carried those out were corrupt, those who passed judgments were also corrupt," he added.

Moreover, corruption was not easy to resolve because of political configurations arising from the democratic system, he added. For example, corruption started from politicians who were elected democratically, and opportunities for corruption were sometimes exploited through democratic means as well.

He noted that at times, there were political interventions through democracy, such as a House of Representatives member calling for someone's release or handing a project to someone, or pressuring law enforcement personnel to do this or do that.

And everything played out because of the protection of democratic institutions, wherein the people within took part in the democratic process, he added.

Even so, he opined that the democratic system is still considered the best guideline for governance, thus what needs to be fixed is the trappings of political configurations.

“(Like we did) During the 1998 reform, let's build democracy, democratize in the life of the state so that governance (becomes) good, avoids KKN (corruption, collusion, and nepotism). Our choice is always democracy, so don't think of another system," the minister said.

Therefore, what is necessary is the development of a political configuration that is more conducive to good governance in order to address the challenges of democracy for realizing Indonesia's sustainable development.

"In my opinion, our problem is on building a political configuration, which is more conducive to good governance, not democracy, which acts as a path for corruption instead," Mahfud MD added.

ANTARA

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