Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. Many of the men and women within Widodo’s inner circle and his coalition partners proved to be terribly corrupt, with a massive conflict of interests, resulting in poor and corrupted governance. Instead of displaying leadership, Widodo failed to use an iron fist to deal with wayward politicians when it was most needed and as a result corruption quickly spiraled out of control. To wit, the most recent report from Transparency International shows that corruption is now at its highest level in more than two decades.
Such a sobering reality, of a president unwilling to use his powers to fight corruption, reminds me somewhat of the Suharto years. Suharto himself was not extraordinarily corrupt and reportedly lived a modest lifestyle. Yet he gave free rein to his family members, party leaders, cabinet members, and the business elite to enrich themselves and amass vast fortunes. By doing this Suharto essentially developed a loyal base that enabled him to stay firmly in power.
Instead of wielding power to build an even better Indonesia, Suharto used patronage politics to satisfy his lust for power. Widodo is guilty of the same, only in this situation, it is even more inexcusable because it didn’t have to be this way.
The KPK, which was initiated in the last year of the Wahid government in 2001 and formed in late 2002, was doing a reasonably good job at fighting corruption and had some notable successes in prosecuting high-profile cases involving powerful politicians. Then, in 2013, the National House of Representatives (DPR) started deliberations on a bill which, if it passed, would effectively weaken the KPK. Unfortunately, neither Widodo nor his men tried to consult or lobby the DPR to cancel it. As expected, when the bill was finally passed into law, Indonesians were visibly upset, and large street demonstrations erupted. Widodo remained silent.
