Corruption in Indonesia

1978 Words8 Pages
This paper explores the impact of corruption on economic development using Indonesia as a platform of discussion. It provides a brief historical overview of developments in Indonesia and identifies government and regional efforts in the eradication of corruption in the country. It concludes by answering the following research questions: 1) What are some variables in Indonesia that reinforce and inhibit corruption? 2) What variables in the external environment reinforce and inhibit corruption? This paper approaches the problem of corruption using the systems approach and defines the internal environment as Indonesia. All entities outside of the Indonesia make up the external environment. Broadly, these consist of the international community to include regional alliances, international businesses, and other countries. The definition of “corruption” is very elusive. One of the dictionary definitions of corrupt is “to destroy the integrity; cause to be dishonest, disloyal, etc., esp. by bribery.” It is associated with a betrayal of public interests, expectations, roles, and functions. However, these are relative concepts. Indonesia like other countries in South East Asia was a former colony and a relatively young nation compared to first world countries. It was a Dutch colony for over 3 centuries until the nationalist movement declared its independence in 1945. It took another four years before the Netherlands acknowledged Indonesia’s independence in 1949. In this country, the population has many different views of political beliefs, ethnicity, religion, and language. These differences result in society rivalry for political and economic powers. In the course of its early history as a republic, two strongmen emerged in the country’s leadership and established the Sukarno (1949 to 1965) and Suharto (1965 to 1998) eras. General Suharto’s rise and hold
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