Seminar Series: Abstract

Anti-corruption Movement in Democratizing Indonesia
Shang-po Hsieh - Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

Civil society organizations that focus on corruption fighting are usually labeled “watchdogs”, implying that they mainly function to monitor and uncover corrupt practices. However, several Indonesian activist groups claim to strengthen anti-corruption institutions and to empower victims in fighting corruption. Activists’ claims show a difference between conventional understanding and advocates’ perspectives on their contributions to anti-corruption campaigns as a whole. What are civil society organizations that fight corruption? How, and to what extent, do those civil society organizations influence the anti-corruption institution-building process and empower ordinary people to fight corruption? This research aims to answer those questions.

Reformasi-era Indonesia provides relevant material for this research because Indonesian government’s anti-corruption reforms and societal grievances against corruption are its two main features. I spent nine months in Jakarta undertaking fieldwork. My first finding is that activists used institutional channels (e.g. lobbying) and informal means (e.g. interpersonal relations) to strengthen anti-corruption institutions. My second finding is that civil society organizations have a variety of programs aimed at raising people’s awareness of the impact of corruption. These two findings support activists’ claims that their organizations do not merely function as watchdogs. However, factors like politicians’ intervention in the institution-building process contradict activists’ version of anti-corruption institutions. Meanwhile factors like fear of punishment by corrupt officials lead ordinary people to join anti-corruption demonstrations, rather than to directly challenge corrupt officials. In short, political intervention and fear of punishment reduce activists’ anti-corruption efforts. Removing these obstacles is the challenge for activists.

The value of this research consists in its difference from other studies that focus on either causes of corruption or effects of anti-corruption institutions. This research will be of interest to specialists in both corruption fighting and Indonesian politics, and it is hoped that it will contribute to knowledge about the role of social forces in combating corruption.