Fw: INDONESIA CORRUPTION HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT

[Guest guest]

INDONESIA CORRUPTION HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT

 

The ability to protect the environment in Indonesia has declined

substantially as a result of graft and corruption within the government and

the military. In fact there has been so much corruption in Indonesia that it

forced the World Bank it issue a report on the condition. This is

significant given that the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank and other

international aid agencies like US AID and Canadian CIDA have, for years,

tried to ignore and play down the significance of corruption in their

dealings with Indonesia and other countries like Nigeria, engaged in

corruption.

 

In October 1998, an internal World Bank report estimated that, " at least

20-30 percent of GOI (Government of Indonesia) development budget funds were

diverted through informal payments to GOI staff and politicians, and there

is no basis to claim a smaller 'leakage' for Bank projects as our controls

have little practical effect on the methods generally used. " The October

1998 World Bank " Operational Overview " document suggested that the roots of

Indonesian graft lay in Javanese culture but admitted that " many of our own

World Bank staff (particularly headquarters task managers) are viewed as

ignorant or uncaring (as in 'they don't really want to know') of local

practices and thus subject to being misled or deceived rather easily. " It

also blamed the civil service pay system, which dates back to the Dutch

colonial era and relies heavily on project bonuses, for " leaving nearly all

civil servants in constant search of supplemental income. "

 

This has had a direct impact on the ability of Indonesia to adequately

manage its forests, wildlife habitat, and its freshwater rivers. Also, it

has left Indonesia without the ability to protect its urban human

environment from toxics, sewage pollution, and air pollution.

 

Throughout the 1980's, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

ran a huge multi-million dollar environmental assistance program to

Indonesia through Dalhousie University. It was called EMDI, Environmental

Management Development for Indonesia. It involved helping the government and

citizens of Indonesia to develop the societal capacity to protect the

environment. It was part of helping to develop a " Civil Society " . CIDA

provided funding and expertise to help Indonesia to write and implement

environmental law; to assess and develop technologies to eliminate raw

sewage and reduce pollution, and to help environmental NGO's develop the

capacity to work with government. The money was virtually wasted as corrupt

government officials and unscrupulous military officers tried to purge the

pollution abatement contracts of as much money as they could get, and then

use the cheapest and worst materials for construction of the pollution

abatement systems. It has left Indonesia an environmental basket case and

has resulted in a virtual shutdown in international projects to clean up the

country. Visit the Indonesia Corruption Watch website at

http://www.icw.or.id/ . Also see the article on Indonesia and the

environment published by the Inter Press Service (IPS) at

http://www.50years.org/press/ips021599.html . See the OECD - Asia

Development Bank initiative on anti-corruption in Indonesia at the website

http://www.oecd.org/daf/ASIAcom/countries/Indonesia.htm .