This Week In Aceh...: November 3rd - Communities fight corruption

Before turning to work-related matters, let me just quickly write about my weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Gapang, on Pulau Weh (Sabang), with my fiancée. As always, it is a wonderful weekend getaway. I wrote before about the island’s green hills, fine white sand and turquoise water (see my post from July 7^th). There are excellent snorkelling and dive sites. We ended up making our first night adventure dive, which was really exiting. It is an altogether different experience than a day dive, with a completely different shift at work undersea. And even though people are often apprehensive about entering the water after dark, it is actually very serene. It is really not something you should be missing out on because of initial anxiety. In any case, we are well on our way to becoming advanced divers!

Now, as I promised last week, I am going to turn to the issue of corruption. Let us start by defining corruption: in broad terms, corruption is the unlawful use or misuse of influence or power in public office or any position of trust for private, dishonest gain. As mentioned by the World Bank, “[c]orruption comes under many different guises: bribery, misappropriations of public goods, nepotism (favouring family members for jobs and contracts), influencing the formulation of laws or regulations for private gain are common examples […]”.

Sadly, corruption is a serious issue throughout Indonesia. The country scores a mere 2.2 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2005; this being a scale ranging from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean). This ranks Indonesia 140^th out of a total of 159, thereby classifying it in the category of countries in which corruption is said to be ‘rampant’. A number of analyses point to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 as having triggered an upsurge in corrupt practices. Many, however, blame Suharto for creating a climate of corruption that has pervaded the whole economy. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), under his regime “a culture of corruption, collusion and nepotism became entrenched in the political and economic life of the country. Any business activity and operation requires the payment of irregular fees and/or commissions to cultivate relationships”. This paints a grim picture but there are encouraging signs as well. Of all countries, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2005, cites Indonesia as the biggest optimist, believing that corruption will decrease in the next three year. This is projected on the basis of actual decreases of corruption levels in recent years.

Naturally, measures have been taken to minimise the risk of corruption in the IRC’s programmes, particularly in our grassroots community development interventions. To begin with, provisions in the initial partnership agreement and subsequent community contract legally bind the communities against unlawful or fraudulent actions and misuse of project resources. Furthermore, as I mentioned in my weblog dated September 22^nd, moral integrity formed an important criterion for the selection of the Community Development Board (CDB) members. Corruption was likewise mentioned by the communities as one of the main issues they were struggling with and wished to eradicate. In addition, in the same post, I referred to the rigid set of procurement and financial reporting procedures to which the CDB must adhere. Also, as a further precautionary measure, the grants are disbursed in a number of instalments with the final ten percent being transferred only upon completion. Moreover, great emphasis is placed on transparency and visibility. Among other things, public notice boards and project information boards, including project details, budgets and timelines, are to be placed in each community and in front of all projects. Community members are also encouraged to actively monitor the implementation of the projects and the CDB is to report to the community on a regular basis. And finally, the CDR facilitators have, and still are, playing an important role in sensitising the community members towards good practices. They are also keeping a close eye on progress.

Unfortunately, in spite of all precautions and safeguards, a limited number of minor transgressions have nevertheless taken place. In one case, a CDB member used project money for his own expenses. The community denounced him and raised funds to replace the missing money, thereby indebting the culprit to the entire community. In another case, overpriced traditional ceremonial equipment was purchased without quotations. The community felt suspicious and ordered the equipment to be returned. Nepotism and making price agreements with contractors and suppliers are other practices we must watch out for.

However, by knowing the risks, acquiring accurate information about prices and remaining alert it is possible to drastically reduce the incidence of corruption. Luckily, the communities themselves provide a considerable degree of social control and our observant staff is always on the field. By and large, cases such as those mentioned above have been both identified and exposed by the communities and/or CDB members, having themselves assumed a pro-active role in remedying the offences. In other cases, for instance, CDB members preferred going through lengthy tender processes rather than working with quotations, feeling that this would increase accountability and thus elicit more trust from the community. These are very positive developments. I feel it is important to discuss sensitive issues such as corruption simply because this is part of the reality we are facing in the field. It is also good to be able to discuss corruption openly with the communities. One must, however, take care to see this within the proper, larger context.

On a lighter note, I have included some pictures from Pulau Weh and from a livestock auction we have been to in order inform ourselves on purchasing healthy livestock for our animal husbandry projects. And finally, below, you will find the (almost complete) recipe for the Jungle Inn’s famous ‘Jungle Tea’. I would have published it in last week’s post, were it not for the fact that I had to identify a number of mysterious spices. I have tried, in vain, to find the names of all the ingredients: three are still missing! I have included a picture showing all ingredients (minus the honey); if anyone can provide me with the missing names, please do not hesitate!