After the fall of President Soeharto’s authoritarian New Order regime in 1998, many were hoping that a cleaner, more democratic government would take its place.
While Indonesia has arguably become a much more democratic nation since, some believe that political corruption is now more rife than ever as more and more people rise to positions of power.
“Back then (New Order era), the corrupt ones were only in Golkar (Soeharto’s political party). Now, all parties are doing it,” said Mahfud MD, former head of the Constitutional Court, as quoted by Vivanews yesterday.
Mahfud MD is uniquely qualified to issue an opinion on the matter. Besides leading the Constitutional Court from 2008-2011 and serving as Defense Minister, he was also active in seeking democratic reforms that led to the downfall of the New Order regime in 1998.
However, it might be difficult to prove Mahfud MD’s assessment, since corruption eradication efforts were arguably weaker pre-1998 than they are now, given that Indonesia’s main anti-corruption body, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), was only formed in 2002.
Since then, many high profile politicians have been nabbed for corruption, including former Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, former Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, and former head of the Constitutional Court Akil Mochtar. Those arrests show that there is still corruption at the highest levels of government but also that high-ranking officials are not completely immune to being prosecuted for their crimes.
