The president made the statement in his keynote address at the conference on "Shaping a New World: Combating Foreign Bribery in International Business Transactions" at Nusa Dua resort in Bali on Tuesday.
One strategy, according to the head of state, was to morally distinguish between corruption carried out by high-level officials and tycoons out of pure greed, and graft committed by low-level bureaucrats merely trying to survive or out of economic desperation.
"The underlying foundation of this strategy is our belief
that people are essentially good, and that most of us want a better future for our children, full of opportunity and free of corruption," President Yudhoyono said.
He added that there would not always be some people who fall into that category, and in any other society they would be criminals too.
"But I believe the majority want society to work and want Indonesia to prosper, and in order to do so, they too must play their part in combating corruption," the president said.
Another very important lesson about fighting corruption, the president said, was that it should be a sustained effort although even sustained effort would not produce results overnight.
Therefore, he added, t the government was implementing bureaucratic reform, raising salaries and improving
accounting systems.
The president said that one of the most important lessons Indonesia had learned in fighting corruption was that the fight must be systematic.
"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," he said, adding that the effort should be holistic and must affect the system. (*)
O001/HAJM
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
