The Law and Impact of Political Corruption on Community Trust in

Political Parties in Indonesia

Moh. Ali Wafa

, Sudirman Abbas

, Umar Sulaiman

and Atep Abdurofiq

Faculty of Shariah and Law Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Law, Corruption, politicians, Political Parties, Community Trust.

Abstract : This study aims at examining the law and impact of corrupt politician behavior on public trust in political

parties and the efforts of reforms by the parties. Using the survey method, this study has come to the

following conclusions. (1) the corruption committed by politicians mostly occurs due to the work pattern

and the Indonesian political system which develops towards political apathy, in which regeneration does not

optimally take place, while the drive to maintain power and dominate the political parties in the state system

is increasing; (2) the corruption does not only influence the public trust in political parties, but also the

perspective and paradigm of society towards the political system and government in Indonesia. (3) The

impact of this political apathy, which we might be able to see from how the radicalism and extremism easily

exist and develop in Indonesia. An encouragement to even create a new system is present from this political

apathy. If this is not immediately corrected, a change in the system in Indonesia can probably occur.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the most crucial issues to solve by the nation

and the Indonesian government is corruption (Naleni

Indra, 2013: 89, Hamid Basyahib, 2012: 2, and

Taufik Rinaldi, 2007: 2). The longer such criminal

act grows in Indonesia, the more difficult it is to

overcome.

The rise of this act in the country allegedly

occurs in all fields and sectors of development,

especially after the implementation of regional

autonomy. According to the Law Number 22/1999

concerning the Local Government amended by the

Law Number 32/2004, corruption allegedly does not

only occur at the central level, but also at the local

level and it even penetrates to the smallest level of

government in the regions.

In practice, it has become a tradition (John ST.

Quah, 2003: 64), a latent danger that always haunts

human life, and a form of crime to be aware of (Axel

Dreher and Friedrich Schneider, 2010: 215). It is

indeed a “social parasite” (Kartini Kartono, 2001: 79

and Michael Johnston, 2005: 11) endangering and

destroying the joints of government structures and

becoming the most significant obstacle to their

development. In addition, it is considered as a

symptom of social instability (social pathology) and

lack of functioning of social discipline that brings

massive impacts on human life (Dieter Haller and

Cris Shore, 2005: 4).

Corruption very difficult and almost impossible

to bring to a stop considering it is influenced by

various factors including cultural factors,

intervention of power, political engineering,

infidelity among the executive, judiciary and

legislative bodies, and the decline of moral

awareness of the perpetrators. It seems to be a

blurred portrait to terminate the virus and the chain

of corruption in Indonesia.

According to data has been released by

Corruptions Perception Index 2014, Indonesia,

Argentina, Djibouti rank 107

of 175 countries in

the world with score of 34 on a scale 0-100 (0 means

very corrupt). Those data states the level of

corruption and abuse of corruption to be high and

acute which can threaten of the country. (wahyudi

2015:4)

Based on those, the potential for corruption in

Indonesia has occurred so massively by involving

various groups from the executive, legislative,

judicial, political parties, polices, corporations and

other private institutions. ( Benyamin A. Olken,

2007: 200-24 dan Ruth Zshoche, 2011: 12-29).

Based on that factual assumptions are supported by

annual report of Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi

(KPK) in past three years

1032

Wafa, M., Abbas, S., Sulaiman, U. and Abduroﬁq, A.

The Law and Impact of Political Corruption on Community Trust in Political Parties in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0009922410321037

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 1032-1037

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

According to the 2015’s Corruption

Eradication Commission Annual Report, the types of

criminal acts of corruption are as follow: 1), Based

on the mode, 57 cases including the procurement of

goods and services happen; 2), based on the

position, 63 cases are found; 3), based on the

agency, about 57 cases occur, and 4) Based on the

total area, 468 cases are discovered. Overall, the

total case of corruption with various types is equal to

645 cases.

Referring to the 2016’s annual report, several

types of corruption are illustrated in the followings;

1), Based on the mode, 99 cases including the

procurement of goods and services are found; 2),

Based on the position, 99 cases are met; 3), based on

the agency, 99 cases occur. And 4), based on the

total area, 99 cases happen. Here, the total case of

corruption is about 396 cases.

Carefully traced, the acts of corruption are

suspected to occur in several aspects, such as: 1),

Culture and source of power by Johan Galtung (Al-

Chaidar, 1419: 31) referring to Lord Acton’s theory

“Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts

absolutely”, (M. Rachmat, 2013: 275); 2), economic

aspects (Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, 2010: 147, Marco

Pani, 2011: 164, Peter Fleeming and Stelios C.

Zyglidopoulos, 2009: 9); 3), Political aspects

(Robert Klitgaard, 1988: 11, Michael Jhonston, 2005

: 12-13, Isaac Ehrlich and Francis T. Liu, 1999:

270). According to experts, the rampant criminal

acts of corruption are caused by a patrimonial

bureaucracy (Koentjaraningrat, 1998: 15) which

gives the authorities the opportunity to smooth their

power. This tendency will give birth to what Jean

Baudlirrad calls the “perfect crime”, (Mien Rukmini,

2006: 97), with the level of “simulacra of crime” and

high “invisibility” symptoms, it will transform into a

semiotic institution through fake signs (pseudo sign),

false signs, and artificial sign. Such signs (courts,

suspects, evidence, witnesses as semiotic elements)

are now used to obscure reality and falsify truth and

justice, (Yasraf Amir Piliang, 2004: 172).

In addition, other factors such as the

phenomenon of “cultural relativism” (Phyillis

Dininio and Sah John Kpundeh, 1999: 5) and

“cultural gap” by William F. Ogburn (Benoit Godin,

2010: 11), and traditional culture (Frans Magnis-

Suseno, 1992: 126) also arise, which consequently

leads the existence of corruption to always

reproduces from year to year. No wonder if

empirically-factually it massively occurred in the

Soeharto regime (Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown,

2006: 953-992).

Those who have heavily got involved in the

corruption are politicians from major parties

including the Democratic Party, Indonesian

Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),

The Party of the Functional Groups (Golongan

Karya/Golkar), Prosperous Justice Party (Partai

Keadilan Sejahtera/PKS), United Development

Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan/PPP),

Hanura, and National Democrats (Nasional

Demokrat/NASDEM).

According to the existing data, in every major

party politicians who are suspected or convicted of

corruption are about 5-15 people and they are mostly

party leaders. The E-KTP (electronic ID card) case

has also dragged 37 People’s Representative Council

members to commit corruption from major parties

such as Democrats, PDI Perjuangan, Golkar,

Hanura, Nasdem, PKS, National Awakening Party

(PKB/Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa), National

Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Sosial/PAN), and so

on, which indeed are currently waiting for progress

made by the Corruption Eradication Commission.

This suspicion has led to the emergence of the

release of the 2017’s International Transparency

with 60% probability which placed the People’s

Representative Council of Indonesia as the most

corrupt institution in Indonesia in 2017.

The tendency of corrupt behavior committed

by politicians certainly has consequences that will

affect the voter base. There has been a shifting

paradigm over the noble values that become the

platform of each party, which in turn can disgrace

the ethical values it embraces.

This opinion is in line with Jimly Asshiddiqie’s

argumentation (2014: 1) stating that political parties

are actually nothing more than political vehicles for

a ruling elite group who intends to satisfy their lust

of power. Further, the shifting behavior of

politicians who tend to be pragmatic and oriented to

subjective and absurd materials seems to have

straddled the democratic values.

According to Nico Harjanto (2011: 139-140),

the existence of political parties has become the

conditio sine qua non to function democratic

mechanisms.As an organization of citizens who have

the same political ideals and aim to be involved in

state policy making and to fill political positions at

all levels, political parties are the backbone of

democracy. Political parties become a bridge

between political owners, namely the people, with

the government as the holder of the power mandate.

The existence of political parties that are very

central in this democracy certainly cannot be

separated from the various very important roles that

The Law and Impact of Political Corruption on Community Trust in Political Parties in Indonesia

1033

it carries out in consolidating democracy through the

implementation of its functions. This argument,

according to the author must be a mainstream and

platform, so that efforts to ground its functions and

roles as a catalyst for democracy become the task of

the constitutional struggle.

Furthermore Nico Harjanto (2011: 140-141)

said that political parties that should be able to

prepare the best cadres to fill public positions turned

out to be mostly filled with people who only had the

power and closeness to the leadership. Therefore it is

not surprising that human resources in political

parties can be said to be of poor quality because

meritocracy or the career pathing system is not

working as well.

Political parties are also the most ambiguous

and problematic democratic institutions. Ambiguous

because political parties cannot be fully considered

or treated as public institutions or especially as

private institutions. Political parties do not get

primary funding or facilities and personnel

assistance from the state, so that their position as

public institutions is not strong. On the contrary,

political parties cannot be fully regarded as private

institutions, as are foundations, cooperatives, or

mass media companies because political parties are

engaged in the field of power and involve open

society.

This lack of clarity affects the arrangement of

political parties in general, and in the arrangement of

political financing, party financing, campaign

financing and accountability of political parties in

particular.

The ambiguity-problematic conditions

experienced by the aforementioned political parties

and politicians are allegedly an entry point to seek

funding for the parties and capital to settle them in

facing the constituency of legislative elections in the

next period. Such phenomenon, indeed, leads to a

very resistant consequence among the community

towards the politicians and their parties who are

involved in corruption and an apathy that has

appeared through the white group movement, those

are reluctant to vote.

The public perception of political parties after

many politicians have been caught red-handed by

the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi

Pemberantasan Korupsi/KPK) due to corruption.

During this time, the existence of political parties

has been used as a purse to accommodate money

from corruption. At the same time, the parties

always deny that their cadres are involved in

committing corruption. Since the reform era, almost

all political parties in Indonesia have seen their

cadres to get involved in corrupt practices.

The survey showing the contradictions between

expectations and reality indicate that political and

state apathies have taken place in our society. This is

dangerous considering the community does not only

avoid to believe, but also do not care about the

system that takes place in Indonesia anymore

That phenomenon gave rise to community

resistance to politicians and their parties involved in

criminal through Golput (white group). According to

Arbi Sanit (Anton Yuliono, 2013: 180-181)

abstentions (Golput) can be classified into three,

first, piercing more than one party image. Second,

stab the white part of the voter letter. Third, do not

go to the ballot box with the awareness not to use the

right to vote.

Based on the results of Anton Yuliono's

research on Anton Yuliono, (2013: 180-181) about

the public trust in political parties with the object of

research in the city of Surabaya, it was concluded

that the community would not have politicians and

political parties because they were involved in

corruption at 67%. In addition, people generally

refuse to use their right to vote because they

consider that the legislative elections and regional

head elections are merely political routines that

benefit political parties and their politicians.

This was also justified by Pramono Anung

through his research, which concluded that the

political motivation that often settles in the minds of

politicians is caused by economic factors (money)

and earning a living for his personal interests, not to

fight for the aspirations of the people who have

chosen him, attitude like this, causing many

legislative members (DPR) to be pragmatic when

carrying out their functions and duties as board

members. Thus, the DPR is no longer a place for

people with high ideals, nor is it a place for people

who want to make laws and those who want to build

a better system. Why can this tendency occur?

According to the former Secretary General of the

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, because it

was caused by an open proportional electoral system

that caused high election costs. The results of his

research stated that the costs incurred by a

legislative candidate to be elected to become a

member of the DPR were 2-6 billion Rupiah. There

are even candidates whose expenditure reaches 22

billion Rupiah to be elected as members of the DPR

(Online News, Corruption: Portrait of Opaque

Democracy, March 6, 2013).

Thus, based on the amount of costs that must

be prepared by each candidate for the DPR RI,

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

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according to the authors the tendency to commit

corruption is a necessity that must be paid.

Therefore, corruption has become an inseparable

part of the political system, so that its existence has

always been a crucial debate in the context of

whether or not corruption can become a basic need

in the life of the nation and state.

Discourse about corruption is always

interesting to observe. This is because its existence

is always present and present in the dimensions of

human life. (Borris Melnikov, 2008:3)

2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Variety definition of corruption, experts classify

several aspects of corruption and it’s problem.

According to Jeremy Pope, Susan Rose-Ackerman,

Maria dela Rama, and Robert Klittgar, that

corruption occurs in three forms and meanings,

namely; 1) corruption in the lowest sense, acts of

betrayal of trust, (2) corruption in the middle level,

all acts of abuse of power even though the

perpetrators did not get material benefits directly, (3)

corruption is the most acute is the abuse of power to

gain material benefits that are not their rights.

(Jeremy popy, 2003:49)

Based on corruption tendencies that occur more

in dimensions and power, according to Bruce

Buchan and Lisa Hill, the term corruption contains

paradoxical and ambiguous connotations that are

always attached to the conception. The other side, he

refers to violations of the law, but on the other hand

carries a moral burden, thus gave to a lot of

resistance to break the chain.

Corruption is not a minor crime or a form of

violation of the law alone, but is actually a form of

moral disability and carcass failure. Corruption, is

not just a mistake, but a crime with very dangerous

quality. Corruption implies a loss, damage or

degeneration. This is the worst form of individual

behavior, corporate mafia or even all countries

involved with this problem.( bruce Buchan and lisa

hill,2014 :6)

Referring to the various analyzes and opinions

of the experts above, a concept can be generalized

that corruption in essence means abuse, namely

abuse. But the general conception of abuse should

have clear indicators and parameters so as not to

obscure or give birth to misinterpretation, is

corruption something negative? Or also has a truth

claim that corruption is not always a negative or

detrimental thing if viewed from an economic,

political, social and cultural and religious

perspective. With this position,

Michael Jhonston, seeks to explain that

corruption can be categorized as abuse which

directly contradicts other formal rules of law

standards. This is considered beneficial because it

has the legal power to control strictly and bind. But

this understanding has a gap to debate, if using

empirical postulates and legal standards in which the

control function is helpless when facing an

authoritarian and repressive cycle of power that

attempts to justify systematic errors for power

holders., (Michael Jhonston, 2005: 18-19) the

anomalies, so that other approaches are needed in

constructing the concept of corruption abuse.

Artically divides several typologies or variants

of corruption, among others; First, transactive

corruption, which is corruption that occurs on the

agreement between a donor and recipient for the

benefit of both parties. Second, extortive corruption,

which involves suppression and coercion to avoid

harm to those involved or people who are close to

the perpetrators of corruption. Third, investive

corruption, which is corruption that starts from an

offer, as an investment for future profits. Fourth,

nepotistic corruption, namely corruption that occurs

due to special treatment both in the appointment of

public offices and the provision of projects for close

families. Fifth, autogenic corruption, namely

corruption that occurs when an individual official

gains an advantage because of having knowledge as

an insider (insider's information) about various

public policies that he should keep secret. Sixth,

supportive corruption, namely the protection or

strengthening of corruption that occurs through

intrigue of power and even violence.( Hussein al-

Attas,1990:4)

To find out clearly about typology or variants

of corruption, the researchers only describe some

forms of corruption that are very important for

human life, including (a) bribery, (b) gratuity, (c)

collusion and nepotism.

3 METHODS

The research methods in this study applies two

instruments, questionnaire and interview. The set of

questionnaires, for example, adopts a Likert scale, a

scale used to measure a person’s attitude towards a

subject’s attitude. In the meantime, an interview is a

data collection method used to obtain information

directly from the source.

The Law and Impact of Political Corruption on Community Trust in Political Parties in Indonesia

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4 RESULTS FINDING AND

DISCUSSION

The discussion of the results presented in this paper

covers the survey result regarding the corruption

perception which is divided into five sub-variables,

(1) Definition of Corruption and its Causes, (2)

Government Accountability, (3) Indonesian

Politicians, (4) Political Parties, (5) Corruption

Handling. Further, the external criteria as the basis

of this research refer to Age, Tribe, Occupation,

Education and Jakarta Regions.

In term of age, the survey shows 42% of

the respondents are about 20 to 40 years old and

58% are 40 years old and over. Regarding the

maturity, the respondents are mature and have

sufficient knowledge in making decisions and

understanding the research intentions in building

perceptions of corruption.

In general, the respondents in this study

are dominated by Javanese by 24%, followed by

Betawi tribes by 23.4%, Sundanese by 15.2%,

Eastern Indonesia consisting of Tribes in

Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku to Papua by 13%,

Minang by 12.6%, and the tribes in Sumatra such as

Aceh, Batak, Palembang which are incorporated into

Sumatra by 11.8%.

Regarding the education level, the

respondents are dominated by Diploma and/or

undergraduate program by 45.2%, high school

alumni by 37.2%. In these two levels of educational

backgrounds, the data of research are predominantly

collected as the respondents with Master’s degree

are about 9%, doctoral program about 3% and

middle school about 7.4% respectively.

As for the occupation, the average

respondents work as a teacher (31%), employees

(25%), self-employed (16.4%), labor (15.4%),

students (7.4%) and housewives (4.8%).

If we generalize the results from all

regions in Jakarta, we will see the followings: In

general, the overall survey results show a higher

number on positive items.

The positive items in the survey here are

statements indicating general assumptions that

develop in theory and concept. In the definition of

corruption and its causes, for example, an act of

corruption such as embezzlement is adverse action

to the economy of the country” and/or “Corruption

is an act intended to give profit which is not in

accordance with the official obligations". In this

affirmative statement, respondents generally agree

and expect the system improvement in Indonesia.

However, when faced with a negative

statement illustrating how corruption takes place in

Indonesia, the difference found by researchers is

only about 1%. They agree to the statement “Saying

thank you by giving something for a particular job is

a normal thing to do in Indonesia” or “Cutting aid

or costs incurred by the government is part of the

award that is expected by the Bureaucracy in

Indonesia”. This shows although they fundamentally

understand, realize and know that corruption is

dangerous and destructive, at the same time they

also feel apathetic as corruption keeps going on.

Regarding the government accountability

variables, for example, the scale of the positive

items is higher than the negative ones, but with only

2% to 3% difference between the positive and the

negative points, it is assured even though on the one

hand they agree about the positive items and expect

this would happen in Indonesia, the respondent also

realize that such condition is not that simple. In

another word, at the time this research took place,

they were in a state of giddiness. The great news is

they have confidence that this country is trying to

improve itself, and they agree with it although they

also realize the fact that corruption is still happening

in Indonesia and requires considerable effort to

eliminate it.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the survey, this study concludes the

followings: (1), corruption committed by the

politicians occur due to the work pattern and

Indonesian political system that grows towards

political apathy, in which regeneration does not

optimally take place, while the drive to maintain

power and dominate the party in the state system is

getting higher. consequently, the political parties do

not become a forum to build politicians, but to

produce opportunists in the government system; (2),

the corruption does not only influence the public’s

trust in political parties, but also the perspective and

paradigm of the society towards the political system

and government in Indonesia.

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