Social Media as An Instrument to Fight Corruption

Do you remember Gayus Tambunan (a prisoner in the case of tax embezzlement)? In November
2010, someone capture him when he was watching a tennis match in Nusa Dua, Bali. At that time,
Gayus wore glasses and a wig to conceal his identity. Gayus was supposed to be at a detention centre
as he is being tried for corruption. Do you also remember an incident in 2013 when Bali Traffic
Officer caught on hidden camera extorting a Dutch tourist?
Both events above reflect public participation to fight against corruption by using an electronic
device. that they have. Then, they passed it on to the public through social media. Nowadays, we live
in democratic atmosphere, so people braver to make a report. Besides that, transparency,
accountability, and monitoring system is more advance. Society can also watched and make
evidence, and reported easily by their cell phone or other electronic devices. (Laode Ida, 2005)
Corruption in Public Sector
Based on Regulation, UU No.31/1999 about Corruption Eradication, Corruption action is defined as
any person who deliberately against the law, enrich themselves, or any other person or a corporation
which can be detrimental the country or national economy. Moreover, public sector is the
government and its decentralized units including the police, military, public roads and transit
authorities, primary schools and healthcare system that use public funds and provide services
based on the motivation to improve citizens lives rather than to make a profit. (Rosie Slater,
2011)From these definitions, a picture of corruption in the public sector begins to emerge any kind
of abuse of entrusted power for private gain that takes place within the government bodies.
There are five types of public sector corruption in Indonesia (Mas Achmad Santosa, 2012):
1. Political corruption the misuse of political authority in the House of Representatives;
2. Enforcement corruption corruption committed by law enforcement officers;
3. Regulatory corruption corruption through the misuse of licenses and concession of natural
resources which mostly done by local officials and the member of regional parliaments;
4. Government procurement corruption corruption in the procurement of goods and services;
5. Public service corruption this kind of corruption is not as big as monetary value in political
and/or enforcement corruption but have a direct impact on the sustainability of the society.
The Role of Social Media
Social media is the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange
information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Furthermore, social media depend on
mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals
and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce
substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and
individuals (Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael, 2010)
Refers to social media function, it can be a tool for citizen to find and share information. Besides
that, social media also can be used to report illegal activity, or ask directly to the authorities if

something goes wrong.

Two Stories about Corruption and Social Media
1. SKCK (Police Statement of Innocent Person)
Most companies and institutions in Indonesia ask SKCK as one of requisite letter when you apply for
a job. In January 2010, I have just graduated from University, and I need SKCK to get a job.
Afterward, I browsed on the internet to know about procedure in making SKCK.
On following day, I came to Police Office, District of Limo, Depok City. I brought pas photos,
certificate of birth, and identity card (KTP) as requisite documents. The process to make it this letter
roughly 15 minutes, and there is no charge for it.
In August 2010, I resigned from my company because the location is too far from my house and the
burden of work is too much, so I often went home late night. Because SKCK just valid for six months,
I have to make the new one to get a new job. The police officer has changed, the process is still same,
but now I have to pay Rp. 20,000,- . I told to him that the previous officer did not ask me money, and
he said that the regulation has changed. When I ask him to show me about the article number or the
document, he could not show it. Based on this case, I wrote an open letter on detik.com (popular
online media in Indonesia) about that illegal levies, and I got many comments from readers.
2. Identification Card (KTP)
In 2012 Ministry of Home Affairs launched Single identity numbers (SIN) programme or as known
as electronic identity cards (e-KTP). It is a centralized identity management system will minimize
possible corruption, money laundering, and terrorism. Therefore, everyone has to change his/her
conventional identity to be e-KTP including me.
One day, I went to local government office in my district to make e-KTP. In that process, the officer
recorded my fingerprints and scanning my eye retina as well. After a week went by, my e-KTP is
issued. However, there is a serious mistake, the officer typed my name incorrectly. My name is ARIF
WIDODO but he typed ARIF WODODO. So, I have to back to conventional KTP instead of e-KTP.
Although the mistake made by the officer, but I have to arrange to make a new one by myself.
I prepared several documents needed for that process, and I gave that documents to an officer at this
office. Based on valid regulation, Mayor Decision No.138/2010 about Standard Operating Procedure
in public service sub district, the time required is 14 working days. One month later, I went back to
that office, but my KTP had not finished yet. One week later, I came to that office again, and my
document had still not been processed.
When I went out of the office, someone came up to me and said if you want your documents to be
processed immediately, you should bribes the officers, but I ignored it. I just reported to the mayor
through his twitter account @Nur_Mahmudi and@pemkotdepok. He responded, and said to have
reprimanded the officers. Finally, a week later, my new KTP was issued.
Conclusion

As a good citizen, we have to participate in the fight against corruption in the ways that we can do. At
least we do not give bribe the officers in order to expedited the process or ask to cut off the
procedure. One of easy ways to prevent corruption in the public sector is publish and announce Call
Centre complaints or reports, and other channels such as facebook, twitter, and email. Nowadays
technology is growing rapidly, people can use their cellular to capture images or record something to
be used as a strong evidence.