Korupsi dan Disintegrasi in Indonesia since Suharto

This article argues that Indonesia since reformasi remains subject to powerful tendencies for disintegrasi – both province-based “separatism” and general socio-political decay. These tendencies are greatly aggravated by the failure of democratically elected presidents and parliaments to effectively tackle endemic corruption or reform the armed forces, which continue to enjoy near-total immunity as a major practitioner, guarantor and enforcer of corrupt business practice and extortion. The article notes the activism of civil society and liberal media on the corruption issue and the commendable new array of anti-corruption institutions. But it argues that reform efforts have been virtually nullified by broad collusion of Indonesia's political, bureaucratic, military and business elites in sustaining – but also “democratising” and decentralising – the system of corruption inherited from Suharto. Change must await new social and political struggles initiated outside the parliamentary arena which itself has become a major source of KKN (Korupsi, Kolusi dan Nepotisme).