Indonesians believe corruption to be on the rise since 2014: Survey

Indonesians believe that corruption has worsened in the country in the last two years, a survey finds.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - a research and policy institution in Indonesia - surveyed 3,900 respondents in April, in all 34 provinces in the country.

66.4% of respondents believe corruption has worsened since President Joko Widodo took office. Of the total respondents, 10.8% believe that corruption has decreased, while 21.3% think that there hasn’t been much change, according to the Jakarta Post.

However, although most respondents perceive that corruption is on the rise, 50.4% of them believe that “the country is serious about eradicating corruption”, whereas 28.2% of them think that the government is not taking serious measures, said Arya Fernandes, CSIS researcher.

Respondents believe that corruption is on the rise because light punishments are given to convicts, said Vidhyandika Djati Perkasa, Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at CSIS.

Court judges also give lighter punishments to convicts than what prosecutors demand, so it doesn’t stop people from being corrupt, he added.

In May, the Indonesia Corruption Watch, an anti-corruption NGO, uncovered US$96 million losses in the country’s education sector due to corruption, spanning a duration of 10 years. Image by Farhan Perdana, licensed under CC BY 2.0