Indonesia’s Corruption Crisis
In a single month, the Corruption Eradication Commission arrested three regional heads, the regents of Jombang, Ngada and Subang.
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Resolving corruption completely has become an urgent need, as the arrests of corrupt regional heads will never stop until the main problem is overcome, despite the fact that resolving corruption often falls under the duties of regional heads. The transactional mechanism in selecting regional election candidates with political party backing has also contributed to encouraging regional heads to engage in corruption.
From its 2004 establishment until 2017, the KPK has arrested 80 regional heads, both regents/vice regents and governors/deputy governors. The regional heads were all caught in the KPK\'s sting operations or through developments in the the investigation of corruption cases. Regional heads were involved in a variety of corruption, ranging from buying and selling positions, buying and selling licenses for natural resources management and to misappropriating funds of the BPJS Kesehatan (Health and Social Security Agency), as alleged against East Java’s Jombang Regent Nyono S Wihandoko.