Indonesia's devolution of power to the regions has increased corruption, but greater public awareness has led to more cases being uncovered, according to a World Bank study released on Tuesday.
Allegations of corruption involving regional parliaments swept Indonesia a year after regional autonomy was introduced in 2001 in a country where graft was already considered endemic.
Cases have more recently spread to the executive branch in the regions, said the study. "Some of these changes have given rise to rampant money politics - by district heads seeking to gain and maintain support from the legislature; and legislators exploiting their newly acquired power over local budgets to secure financing for their political parties," the report said.
"But, most commonly, all sides have taken the chance to embezzle funds for self-enrichment," it said. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the country's first direct presidential election in October 2004 on a pledge to end graft in a nation consistently rated as one of the world's most corrupt. But the report also said a stronger civil society resulting from decentralisation had led to a higher number of cases being uncovered.
All 10 regional graft cases looked at in the study had been reported not by oversight or judicial bodies but by ordinary villagers, activist groups, firms that had missed out on contracts and disaffected politicians. But cases that reached the courts often only resulted in mild punishments that were often not enforced, the study found.
George Aditjondro, a sociologist who has extensively studied corruption in Indonesia, said the study reflected only a small portion of local government corruption.
"There are systemic flaws in the selection and election of public officials in Indonesia, where money still plays such a big role," Aditjondro told a panel discussion at the study's launch. "In other words, people are interested to be appointed to public offices not to serve the people, but to improve their income and economic status," he added.
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