Revisiting the virtues of veto point: political corruption in post-Soeharto Indonesia

ABSTRACT

This article expects to extend existing researches on the effect of political institutions on political corruption. Examining the case of post-Soeharto Indonesia, it argues that political corruption has become more rampant because of structural opportunities which incentivize corrupt practices. Employing veto player theory, this article illustrates how the conventional wisdom of installing more veto players has worked counterproductively to increase rather than to constrain political corruption. This is explained by the nature of the legislative process, which requires all players to agree before any legislative proposal can be enacted. Instead of ensuring checks and balances, the dispersion of more institutional veto players has been used as a political instrument to frustrate the executive. Bribery is used as a remedy for speeding up budget-making processes and getting priority policies approved. This article concludes that the veto player system needs to consider the nature of legislative processes in a specific context.

KEYWORDS:

• Veto player
• political corruption
• budget
• Indonesia
• legislatures

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gabriel Lele graduated from the Australian National University, Canberra. Finishing his thesis on policy reform and political institution in Post-Soeharto Indonesia (1999–2007), he constantly works with legislative dynamics which covers governance-related issues such as corruption, transparency and accountability. He is currently assigned as the Director of the Department of Public Policy and Management, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Since 2014, he was also assigned as one of the Expert Team on Public Service Innovation under the Ministry of State Apparatus and Bureaucratic Reform. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Center for ASEAN Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, specialising in governance dynamics at regional, national, and local level. He is especially passionate with corruption and anti corruption researches in developing countries.

Notes

1 See https://ti.or.id/cpi-2019-korupsi-dan-pentingnya-integritas-politik/ (accessed on August 1, 2019)

2 See https://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/data-2004-2018-104-kepala-daerah-tersandung-korupsi-paling-banyak-di-jawa-timur.html (accessed on August 1, 2019).

3 See https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-39189729 (accessed on August 1, 2019).

4 See https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2014/09/25/22533641/KPK.Anggota.DPRD.yang.Terjerat.Korupsi.3.600. Orang (accessed on August 1, 2019).

5 See https://www.kpk.go.id/id/statistik/penindakan/tpk-berdasarkan-jenis-perkara (accessed on August 14, 2019).

6 https://www.kpk.go.id/id/statistik/penindakan/tpk-berdasarkan-profesi-jabatan (accessed on September 11, 2019)

7 https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2017/06/16/suap-perkara-korupsi-terbesar-di-indonesia (accessed on September 11, 2019).

8 https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/08/money-binge-hambalang-graft-case.html (accessed August 20, 2019).

9 https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2018/01/22/20540151/di-proyek-e-ktp-jatah-fee-dpr-dan-kemendagri-masing-masing-rp-250-miliar (accessed August 20, 2019)

10 https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2017/03/09/16182831/ini.daftar.mereka.yang.disebut.terima.uang.proyek.e-ktp?page=all (accessed August 20, 2019).

11 See https://www.liputan6.com/news/read/3967623/17-mei-2004-korupsi-berjemaah-40-anggota-dprd-sumbar-berujung-vonis-2-tahun-bui?utm_expid=.9Z4i5ypGQeGiS7w9arwTvQ.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F (accessed on August 2, 2019).

12 https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2018/03/30/23374701/kpk-tetapkan-38-anggota-dan-mantan-dprd-sumut-jadi-tersangka (accessed on August 21, 2019).

13 https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2019/04/10/15460751/enam-anggota-dprd-sumut-didakwa-terima-uang-ketok-dari-gatot-pujo-nugroho (accessed on August 21, 2019).

14 https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2018/12/06/12475621/zumi-zola-divonis-6-tahun-penjara?page=all (accessed on August 2, 2019).

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16 https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/09/05/after-bribery-kpk-slaps-gratuity-charges-on-malang-councillors.html; https://regional.kompas.com/read/2018/09/07/05300061/cerita-lengkap-perjalanan-kasus-suap-yang-menyeret-41-anggota-dprd-kota?page=all (accessed on August 2, 2019).

17 https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/23/kpk-grill-musi-banyuasin-regent.html (accessed on August 14, 2019)

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19 https://www.suara.com/news/2015/08/27/205600/bupati-mengaku-sering-dipaksa-tanda-tangan-oleh-anggota-dprd-muba (accessed on August 19, 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Public Policy and Management, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, under [grant number 465/MKP/X/2019].