Constitutional Court Doubts Survey of Transparency International Indonesia
Thursday, 01 March, 2007 | 16:05 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Constitutional Court doubts the survey of Transparency International Indonesia stating that bribery in judicial institutions occurred at the request of judicial officials and their members of staff'.

“Is that it? I doubt if all respondents give honest answers,” said Djoko Sarwono, the spokesperson of the Constitutional Court yesterday (02/28) in Jakarta.

The survey of Transparency International Indonesia (TII) stated that bribery was still practiced in several public services institutions.

What was unique, however, was that 100 percent of bribery initiatives at judicial institutions came from officials or their staff, according to the survey.

“Judicial institutions 100 percent asked for bribes instead of being offered them by other people,” said TII Secretary General Rizal Malik when announcing the survey on Tuesday (02/27) last week.

The survey was conducted concurrently in 32 cities with 1,760 respondents between September and December last year.

The respondents, according to the survey, acknowledged always being asked for “some grease money” when interacting with public institutions, including judicial institutions.

The survey applied quota sampling as its methodology: face-to-face interviews and structured questionnaires.

Although the survey applied a measured methodology, Djoko questioned its accuracy.

“Has it been certified or not” asked this Head of the Board of Judges of Indonesia.

Firmansyah Arifin, Coordinator of the National Legal Reform Consortium, said he was frustated by the attitude of the Constitutional Court.

He said that the Constitutional Court should not react in this way.

TITO SIANIPAR