Precisely 1 week after the World Corruption Day, Governmental Administration Program of Public Administration Department, Administration Faculty of Brawijaya University (FIA UB) held an International Guest Lecture themed ‘Anti Corruption Policy in Korea’. That theme suited the most for it’s been more than half century of Indonesia’s independence day; we’re still trapped in endless corruption problems. The Guest Lecture was organized to attain images about corruption happened in Korea and ideas used by Korea to overcome that problem.
Attending as a spokesperson, Prof. Chung Hee Lee, Ph.D. is one of the senior lecturers from Department of Political Science, Hankuk University of Foregin Studies (HUFS), Seoul, South Korea. This event was not only attended by undergraduate students and post-graduated students, but also by lecturers from Department of Public Administration – FIA UB.
Dr. Luqman Hakim M.Sc., as the head of Governmental Administration Program, Department of Public Administration FIA UB opened this event. In his speech he expressed that corruption is one of the ‘hot topics’ in most of the countries. Both developed and developing countries cannot escape from the corruption trap. “By this event, we can compare levels and the solutions to overcome corruptions in Indonesia and Korea. We will apply the best,” Luqman said.
As explained by Prof. Lee, Indonesia has a great potential to be a developed country. Indonesia has abundant natural resources, conducive climate, adequate human resources, vast region and many others. In addition Prof. Lee stated that if Indonesia could overcome corruption, he’s sure that in few years Indonesia will be among 5 developed countries in the world. This, he thought, is very possible considering the level of corruption between Indonesia and Korea is relatively the same.
The uttered that corruption in Korea not only happened in the government during the regime of Park Chung Hee, but also in non-government in its relation with the government as what happened with Samsung, Hyundai, and Daewoo, and also in military and defense industry. More over, Prof. Lee explained that nepotism and paternalistic culture, personal relation with the authorities, personal network, and many other tolerated-illegal practices caused the existence of corruption.
To conquer corruption, Prof. Lee expressed the necessity to develop strong department and anti-corruption culture, develop instructions and strict punishment, transparent, and the need of public movement to eradicate corruption. In the end of his speech he expressed that if world public has capability to stop corruption because 2 out of 3 people can make a difference to overcome corruption, and more than 90% of the people has the intention to confront corruption. “When the community moves, then a change will happen,” as he said with a fluent English. (AM/FIA)
