Indonesians growing more tolerant of corruption, national survey shows

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JAKARTA (Bloomberg): Indonesians are becoming more tolerant of corruption, as shown by its anti-graft index slipping to the lowest level since 2021.

The index measuring the public’s permissiveness toward corrupt practices fell to the lowest in three years at 3.85, well below the government’s target of 4.1, according to data from the central statistics agency on Monday. A score of 0 would indicate high tolerance for graft while 5 would indicate strong rejection of it.

President Joko Widodo has never reached his own anti-corruption target score of 4 and 4.1 during his decade in office.

Indonesians’ waning rejection of corruption means that people see bribery and nepotism as a common way to get ahead, paving way for systemic graft to take root in the government.

About 17% of those surveyed said it was normal to pay more than the required amount when accessing public services, while more than 46% said they were offered money or benefits in exchange for promising to vote for certain candidates in this year’s elections, said Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, acting head of the statistics agency.

Jokowi, as the leader is known, rose to power on a campaign to fight corruption and embarked on a series of bureaucratic reforms to end graft. He has since faced accusations of nepotism after his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka became the country’s vice president-elect by making use of a legal exemption presided over by Jokowi’s brother-in-law.

"To improve the anti-corruption index, we need political commitment from our top leaders,” said Arya Fernandes, a political analyst at the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The ongoing election of Anti-Corruption Commission members will be key to ensuring their credibility and professionalism, he added.

"As for the public side, we need political education to convey that corruption has a bad impact on the economy,” said Fernandes.

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