"We must always encourage more anti-corruption campaigns at bilateral and multilateral levels," the President said here on Tuesday.
Only by establishing international cooperation could the global economy be well prevented from money laundering crimes, bribery be deterred, corrupters be banned from entering other countries, law be upheld, assets be recovered, and whistle blowers be protected, he said.
"There are a lot of things we can do," he said.
He said the international community must work closely to make corrupters aware that there was no safe place in the world to live in.
The President further spoke of his government`s commitment to fight against corruption. "We are working hard to change our systems. We are in the process of reforming the law system. The KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) also has succeeded in investigating bribery cases," he said.
Indonesia had been fighting against corruption and bribery cases by reforming bureaucracy, raising state employees` salaries and improving financial systems, he said.
In addition, it also had ratified international conventions on combating corruption, he said.
Indonesia has so far had difficulties capturing corruption suspects who fled to other countries and recovering state assets stashed abroad.
Yudhoyono said in his opening speech at the International Conference of Foreign Bribery in Business Transaction 2011 here earlier in the day that corruption was a crime that needed to be fought through systematic efforts.
"One of the most important lessons Indonesia has learned in fighting corruption is that the fight must be done systematically. As I said, it is a marathon, not a quick sprint, and it will require perseverance and support from all of us to get us to the finish line," the president said.
The president emphasized the need to start eradicating corruption from the grassroots, working laterally to include all the stakeholders at all levels, and working its way to the top, to ensure that the leadership was also involved in combating graft.(*)
(S012/HAJM/B003)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
