Clean Government Must Be Free from Corruption

Jakarta (Antara) - Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto reiterated the importance of corruption eradication for a clean government if he and his running mate Hatta Rajasa are elected as Indonesia's president and vice president in the upcoming presidential election. Prabowo expressed his pair's commitment to working hard to create a corruption-free government to prosper. Prabowo made the statement in a presidential debate, an initiative of the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) here on Monday as part of KPU's campaign program for the election scheduled on July 9, 2014. The first debate, which was moderated by the director of the Anti-Corruption Study Center of the Yogyakarta-based Gajahmada University, Zaenal Arifin Mochtar, will be followed by debates among the Prabowo Subianto - Hatta Rajasa pair and Joko Widodo (Jokowi) - Jusuf Kalla duo. Prabowo said corruption eradication is one of the important issues that should be upheld and relates to the efforts to ensure a clean government and democratic development, with Indonesia as the legal state. When questioned about his government's strategy to combat corruption if he wins the presidential election, Prabowo said the welfare of state officials and civil servants will be improved because their criminal acts are related to low salaries. "Corruption in Indonesia happens as a result of the state officials' fear of facing the future after they retire. Therefore we want to close any leak (of state budget) by guaranteeing the quality of their lives," he said. Prabowo further underlined the importance of e-government in combating corruption. Previously, the Prabowo-Hatta pair promised to seek the capital punishment for perpetrators of corruption crimes if they are elected to lead Indonesia, but previously the Jokowi-Kalla camp had promised a program of life sentences for criminals, KOMPAS.com quoted Mahfud MD on June 7 as saying. Also, KPU official Arief Budiman had said previously the electoral agency will organize debates five times with the first between presidential candidates, the second between the vice presidential candidates, the third between the presidential candidates again, the fourth between the vice presidential candidates again and the last between the two pairs. The debates will be broadcast live nationwide alternately by several national television stations, he said. (*)