While speaking to the media at his office in Jakarta on Wednesday, Mahfud said that he considers Indonesia's membership of the FATF as proof of the international community's trust in Indonesia in participating in the global fight against acts of corruption, especially money laundering.
"I believe this is an important thing for the efforts to eradicate corruption in our country, particularly criminal acts involving money laundering," he added.
The FATF officially accepted Indonesia as a permanent member on October 27, 2023. President Joko Widodo announced the achievement on Monday (November 6).
Minister Mahfud noted that Indonesia had to overcome challenges before acceding to the FATF, as the intergovernmental organization had put the country on its blacklist in 2001.
"In 2001, Indonesia was included in the blacklist since we did not have laws concerning the eradication of money laundering. Then, we devised a law in 2002, but it was not deemed as adequate. Later in 2003, we formulated the Law on Money Laundering Crimes," he informed.
Indonesia eventually managed to get out of the blacklist in 2015, indicating that it was starting to be counted among anti-money laundering regimes, he added.
"Later on in 2018, we submitted our proposal to become a permanent member of the FATF," he said.
The FATF is an organization comprising developed and developing countries that collaborate to formulate and implement common standards for eradicating money laundering as well as cutting off funding to terror groups and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Indonesia obtained its membership after a series of tests, which included an on-site mutual evaluation review by an FATF team in July–August 2020 and a review carried out at an FATF plenary meeting in June this year.
"Indonesia's membership of the FATF can increase positive perceptions of the Indonesian financial system, which, in turn, will have an impact on rapid economic growth through both domestic and foreign investments," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta on November 1.
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Translator: Genta T/ Tri M, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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