Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah officially opening the Technical Assistance Program on Gratuity Control within the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court in collaboration with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday (24/10), in Depok, West Java. Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.

Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah officially opened the Technical Assistance Program on Gratuity Control within the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court in collaboration with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday (24/10/2018 f), in Depok, West Java.

The Hasanuddin University law professor reminded the staff of the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court to report any violation at the office. He urged them to refuse gratuity, or any gift, whether it is a bribe or not. He said that the correct mindset is necessary because a good system would not run without the correct mindset. He also urged substitute registrars and researchers, who are most vulnerable to gratuity, to join the Court in fighting gratuity. The three-day program, which took place on Wednesday to Friday (24-26/10/2018) was followed by 54 staff members representing each working units within the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court.

Building Culture of Anti-Corruption

Guntur also delivered a presentation on “Building the Culture of Anti-Corruption.” He said that openness is the soul of justice. However, not all Court proceedings are supposed to be open, such as decision-making and justice deliberation meeting. However, other things such as Court hearings, Court transcript, decisions, and media contents are open for public. This openness, he said, is not physical as in the glass building of the Constitutional Court of Germany, whose process is not open as the access available for justice seekers and citizens is limited.

Guntur said that one of the forms of transparency that the Court adopts is the uploading of the wealth reports of the constitutional justices and staff members on the Court’s website. This concept has attracted foreign constitutional justices and constitutional court staff as they could also adopt it.

Guntur added that corruption is a deviation. He described three types of deviation: for personal interest, for family, and for the interest of the group. The last type is the most dangerous because it is often invisible. He said that only welfare will guarantee the absence of corruption. He also reminded that the risk of corruption lies with mindset and culture, not with the system.

Gratuity Allows for Corruption

The Director of Gratuity of the KPK Syarief Hidayat said in his presentation that corruption is often driven by greed, but it is also driven by need. Many politicians commit corruption as they have to pay for debts they accrued to forward their political careers. He said that, for example, to be a regent or mayor, someone has to spend billions, which they borrow from the private sector. Then, when elected, they will have to pay it back by approving projects of those people who loaned them money.

Syarif said that there are only two articles used to fight against gratuity, but the forms of gratuity vary greatly that it is hard to investigate. He said that while gratuity is not always related to office position, it allows for anyone to give favors, which will result in special treatment. (Ilham/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)