Hills Governance Update: Governance Challenges Ahead for Indonesia

This month, Natalia Soebagjo,the executive director of our governance center in Indonesia, details the problems of retaining momentum in anti-corruption efforts. The often powerful and entrenched interests will find many reasons to divert attempts to control and reduce corruption, and they will take every opportunity to do so. Even with governmentannounced anticorruption measures,like Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission—one of the signature initiatives of President Yudhoyono (who is popularly known as “SBY”)—the attempts to cripple the Commission have been constant. One minimal requirement to retaining the anticorruption momentum going in a democracy like Indonesia’s is strong popular support and the leadership of civil society groups, like our center and its director and board.