Added: http://www.jalur259.com/ commission reporting directly to the President dealing with cases against police departments.

Recently I have asked on Twitter what Indonesians think that Indonesia needs change with. Overwhelmingly the response has been corruption. Since then, I have been in contact with people who have had personal experience with that, so let me give you a little example as to what corruption looks like in Indonesia:

A foreign business owner came here 14 years ago and has built a factory to produce furniture from wood coming from the forest of Kalimantan. The Indonesian part of Borneo that is. Huge pieces of rainforest, quality wood, teak at its best.
One day in 2006 he made a big mistake and that was to accept an offer from the local police to buy the wood from THEM directly rather than from an Indonesian business owner and when I am talking about buying wood, I am referring to a few truck loads amounting to $45,000 worth the wood.
The wood got delivered. He didn’t pay for it. Not until he got the papers that the wood is legal which the police told him would come the next day.

Instead another police officer showed up that night and demanded papers for the wood and appeared to demand his “cut” for the deal to “close his eyes”.

Long story short:

The business owner did not pay him and he never got the paperwork. Instead his forester spent 9 months in jail for accepting the wood and he wound up having to pay a huge fine. The wood was market as illegal and it still sits in front of the factory which had to close down and all of his employees got laid off. The factory provides also housing for 80 employees. Financially wounded, he got back on his feet eventually.

Nobody got paid except the court system.

All of the Indonesian employees lost their job, furniture production stood still and police continued to try to get their cut.

Indonesians are very well aware of the corruption and so far little has been accomplished to change this on a national level.

I have not yet heard about a case where Indonesians have successfully challenged this on a higher scale.
So while I am waiting for more input and answers from my sources, here is a personal warning to all foreigners doing business in Indonesia:

1) Once you pay a bribe, you are being expect to continue. You will be considered scared and a target already labeled as “residual income”.

Getting out of that and fighting the harrassment is going to be much harder than saying no from the beginning.
Police officers will give you protection, place an officer wasting his business hours in front of your property as a way to say “thank you for the tip”.

Also as a constant reminder for you not to miss the next payment. Once you say yes, saying no at a later time will be a lot harder.

2) Do business with and support Indonesian business owners as well as the community. Do not support the police department as it will make them stronger and even more motivated to insist on you kicking down cash on a regular basis. Again: Once you are in, getting out gets harder.

You do not buy from police. You buy from a business providing products and services. Police have their own business which is protecting the people and if you are allowing them to financially gain where they have no business gaining, you are encouraging them to hit you up again and again.

3) Network with other business owners in the area at all times and seek advice.

Know what you want to do and set goals according to your principles.
Are you afraid and think paying the police is an easy way out? Look at it like a drug habit. It starts slow, and the fees will increase. You have to look a few years down the line. If indeed you decide to pay bribes, beware of the consequences and I will you the best with getting yourself out which I hope you will wind up choosing.

All in all, whenever corruption occurs, nobody gains except a few individuals who abuse their position.
Everyone else gets hurt. More than anything the Indonesian people get hurt as this slows down the economy, keeps money from coming into a country nobody trusts and enables police officers to wrongfully close down businesses for revenge not caring about 200 people losing their income from one day to the next as a result of this.

This is why this country is in bad shape when it comes to economical status. I always hear the excuse that “Indonesia has so many islands and it’s hard for one government to manage them all”. This is BS. What needs to happen as a part of the Indonesia Unite movement is that every Indonesian all over Indonesia unites and starts from the bottom and helps clean up corruption.

When corruption occurs in your area and you know about, don’t be like the millions of Germans in Nazi Germany who knew the Jews were disappearing, but didn’t seem to care. Take a stand and take it seriously. No citizen should be afraid of their law enforcement unless they are committing a crime!

Feel free to comment and feel free to give advice from your own personal experience.

This is your country. Claim it!

Mike Dammann

Added: you can also view ongoing discussions on an Indonesia Expat forum. Here is an excerpt:

Originally Posted by firetown
Has anybody here successfully beat corruption without giving in?
Yes there is. I know a lot of people, who are doing a lot of effort on a daily basis to bring down the level of corruption in Indonesia. On a personal note, I am trying my best not to indulge in corruption and I have to say that I am proud of a few achievments. In the past 8/9 years I have seen things improving a lot in Indonesia, and I would even say that these improvments were mainly done in the past 5 years. Wonder if there is a coincidence with a shift in politics… ,
Incidentally, I won two trials (out of two) where I was the defendant (never the best position) in indonesian courts without resorting to bribes. However, I have to admit that the demands were very insisting to say the least. Both cases were initiated by people thinking that, as a foreigner, it would be easy to get me down and/or to get bribes. They were wrong and I guess that they are now fully aware of it. In the second case, the person who decided to go to court may well face a sentence to up to 7 years in jail for perjury and false testimony if the acquittal that was pronounced is confirmed by the Supreme Court. Things can backfire to people looking for trouble without ground or counting too much on corruption.

Quote:
Originally Posted by firetown
If so, please give advice.
1. Know the law perfectly. Hak dan kewajiban so that you can retaliate without getting caught for something else that you were unaware of. If you don’t know the law, log in to some forum… Some peoplemay give you a lead…
2. Before taking harsh measures or going to trial, always try to make your point by explaining the law to those in need. If you don’t get heard, go to a upper level.
3. Never loose your temper and reamin polite/cool in any circumstances.
4. Write down everything and if you wish to complain, do it by writing, not verbally.

Here is another source where you can supposedly report corruption, but from what I was told the results are poor.

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