In one nation’s battle with corruption, more than an ounce of prevention

Indonesia’s frustration with capturing corrupt officials and businesspeople has led it to focus on reinforcing integrity in individuals. One result: Its ranking on a corruption index improved last year.

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Last year, Indonesia began a new training for 100 officials in charge of fishing ports. Over three days, they were taught to be “agents of change in integrity.” The goal: to curb illegal fish poaching in the world’s largest archipelago nation. “Principles of good governance must be created,” explained a government organizer.

The course on integrity reflects an ongoing shift in a country known for high levels of corruption: Focus more on reinforcing virtues such as honesty and accountability than on trying to capture and punish corrupt actors.

“Corruption eradication should address the root of the problem,” said President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in December. “Prevention is a more fundamental way.”

Upon taking office in 2014, Jokowi called for a “mental revolution” against corruption in the world’s third-largest democracy. “Propriety must be instilled in the culture,” he said, individual by individual. He asked religious figures, cultural celebrities, educators, and community leaders to help.

While he still supports punitive approaches to corruption, conducted mainly by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the attorney general, those efforts have proved frustrating. In 2019, for example, the legislature clipped the wings of the KPK on use of surveillance techniques. The agency also had its own scandals. The president himself advised against relying so much on high-profile arrests.

Indonesia now receives financial support for anti-graft efforts from the Biden administration, which has put combating corruption as central to its foreign policy. Last November, the United States gave $23.6 million to the Southeast Asian nation to increase “public demand for accountability” and advance “preventative measures against corrupt practices.”

In January, Indonesia received a bit of good news that might help back the president’s priority on prevention. Its global ranking on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index improved. Indonesia rose from 102 to 96 out of 180 countries.

In government and many big businesses in Indonesia, various programs now aim to strengthen individuals in making decisions with integrity and ethics. The president’s “mental revolution,” in other words, won’t be on the streets or in the courtrooms. Or as Mahmuddin, the principal of an anti-corruption training school in Aceh province told the Sydney Morning Herald: “We can at least start with ourselves.”