Causes of corruption in Indonesia

Query

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Purpose

Our agency is supporting the KPK (Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission) on a new strategic corruption prevention programme for Indonesia.

Content

1. Corruption in Indonesia
2. Causes of Corruption
3. Lessons Learnt
4. References

Summary

Cross-country studies investigating the causes of corruption have identified several factors which may have an impact on corruption, ranging from structural factors, to institutional, historical, and economic factors. However, there are not many country level studies exploring causes of corruption in specific contexts.

In the case of Indonesia, corruption in the country is likely to be facilitated by a number of factors, such as large amounts of public resources derived from natural resources, vested interests and politically connected networks, poorly paid civil servants, low regulatory quality, and weak judicial independence. In addition, local officials are given wide discretionary power and resources without proper accountability and enforcement mechanisms.

Based on the above, anti-corruption reforms in the country could focus on enhancing institutional capacity and reduce clientelistic practices in order to ensure that the rules are followed and applied equally among all citizens. Moreover, strengthening accountability at the local level is key for the success of decentralisation reforms and to prevent corruption at the local level.

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