Indonesian tips for Africa's anti-corruption agencies:
More hereReuters spent six months examining the KPK and their campaign against corruption, gaining rare access to the agency and interviewing senior police officials, politicians, business leaders, members of Yudhoyono's inner circle and the president himself.
Image courtesy of Reuters
The KPK has won guilty verdicts in all 236 cases it has fought. Its arrests of cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, central bankers, CEOs, a judge and even a former beauty queen have exposed how widespread and systemic corruption is in Indonesia. It has certainly made big ticket abuses of power far riskier in Indonesia.
But its success is becoming more costly. Reuters also found an overwhelmed and underfunded agency that faces mounting opposition from parliament, police and the presidency. The KPK's popularity has so far been its most effective buffer against such attacks, especially in the run-up to next year's parliamentary and presidential elections. Any attempt to eviscerate the commission would almost certainly cost votes.
"The KPK's only friend is the public," says Dadang Trisasongko, secretary general of the Indonesian chapter of global corruption watchdog Transparency International.
