"(Based on) the public's assessment of the efforts to eradicate corruption, (they) still consider (the efforts as being) not good. We all must be aware of this," the president revealed at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Building in Jakarta on Thursday.
He delivered the statement during the commemoration of World Anti-Corruption Day. The event was also attended by ministers of the Onward Indonesia Cabinet, the leaders and supervisory board of the Corruption Eradication Commission, national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, as well as other officials.
"In a national survey in November 2021, the public placed the eradication of corruption as the second pressing problem to be solved," he remarked.
He detailed the public's aspirations according to the national survey, with job creation being ranked first, capped at 37.3 percent, while the second being corruption eradication at 15.2 percent, and the third is the appropriate price of basic needs, at 10.6 percent.
"If these three aspects are seen as one unit, corruption is the root cause of other problems. Corruption can interfere with job creation, and corruption can also increase the price of basic necessities," he elaborated.
The survey also indicated that the public perceives the current corruption eradication efforts at being on a balanced scale.
"Those who rated it good and very good reached 32.8 percent, those who rated it medium at 28.6 percent, and those who rated it bad and very bad were 34.3 percent," President Jokowi stated.
However, Indonesia's Corruption Perceptions Index ranking in 2020 is at the bottom, as compared to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.
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"Singapore is ranked third, Brunei Darussalam is ranked 35th, Malaysia is ranked 57th, and Indonesia is still ranked 102. This requires our hard work to improve our corruption perception index together," he urged.
Despite the news, President Jokowi highlighted that there were some positive developments based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
"Regarding the index of anti-corruption behavior in society, which continues to rise and improve, specifically at 3.7 in 2019, at 3.84 in 2020, and at 3.88 in 2021, means that it is getting better every year," Jokowi added.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) released Indonesia's corruption perception index (CPI) for the year 2020 on January 28, 2021, which showed a decline by three points, from a score of 40 in 2019 to 37 in 2020.
Indonesia's ranking has also decreased, from 85th in 2019 to 102th out of the 180 countries surveyed.
A corruption perception index score of zero means very corrupt and 100 being very clean. The 2020 CPI is sourced from nine global surveys and assessments of experts and leading business actors to measure corruption in the public sector in 180 countries and territories, which were conducted during the period from October 2019 to October 2020.
During 25 years of the corruption perception index survey, it is known that in 2008, Indonesia's score was at 26 and then reached 28 in 2009, 30 in 2010, 30 in 2011, 32 in 2012, 32 in 2013, 34 in 2014, 36 in 2015, 37 in 2016, 37 in 2017, 38 in 2018, and 40 in 2019.
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Translator: Desca L N, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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