President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, has praised Indonesia, for its anti-corruption efforts. Indonesia has dropped in the corruption rankings, during the last year, largely due to the destabilizing of Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.
Mr. Wolfowitz has a chequered past, previously being the US Ambassador to Indonesia, thereby developing a strong connection with the country. He followed that up by helping to support the ‘war on terror’ in Iraq. He’s a super smart guy and now is pulling no punches, at the World Bank. Many people think the corrupt predecesors in charge of Indonesia, did deals with the World Bank, so that both parties could benefit at the expense of the country. Certainly robbing the country was Suharto’s favourite pastime.
To get Indonesia to get corruption under control, it is necessary to break a particular mindset. Almost everywhere in this country, you will find people in positions of power, ‘gate keepers’ who can open or close a particular channel, whether it be visas, permits, the road, you name it. People often use this position to extort money, and other people accept this as normal.
A friend said to me, that when an Indonesian has had the chance to live overseas for a while, you can see the change. They start to realise how other parts of the world work, and their whole outlook is different. So promoting education and overseas travel, will be ways Indonesia can start to overcome the culture of corruption.
