Bribery in Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the top 3 most corrupt countries in the world. President SBY has created an anti-corruption department, but some of those investigting others, have been caught taking bribes. It seems taking bribes is like breathing air to Indonesians. Not only are many people open to taking bribes, they will suggest, or even demand one, including staff at international departures / arrivals at airports.

Reading through my 1991 copy of the Indonesia Handbook, by Bill Dalton, I was interested to hear about his views on bribes in Indonesia.

‘You can pay your way out of almost anything in Indonesia: for forgetting a cholera shot at Bali airport 5,000rp; for a dope bust in Java, 500,000rp; for killing a man in Medan, 1,000,000rp, and so forth (prices subject to inflation). Perhaps as much as 30% of the salaries of civil servants come from bribes. You know when its coming: “The official is out right now…”, or “The matter must be referred to another department…”, or “No more forms.”

A good technique is to put a 10,000rp (or whatever you think is called for )note inside your passport when you hand it over to an official. If he’s offended, just explain that’s where you usually keep your money. If your eyes meet and he takes it, it worked. It is unlikely that travellers will ever need to resort to bribery, but often you may not even know if you’ve paid a bribe because it is often masked behind some official fee or charge.’

I pretty much agree will Bill, except for the drug charges. Here is Bali you might be looking at $20,000-$50,000 to ‘get out of jail free.’ One tactic you can also use, if you are not sure of a way forward, is to ask if there is an extra ‘service fee’ you can pay, to get your stuff dealt with immediately.

When giving bribes / getting hit up for a bribe, I vary the degree, to which I let on, that I can understand Indoensian. Coming into the airport, they try the old ‘come on Boss, you live here, hand over some money, you know how it works’ kind of thing. In that kind of situation, I do not use Indonesian, even to say hello, I stick to English and act like I’m totally ignorant. When I get pulled over by the cops on my motorbike, its the other way around. I want them to think I live here and am totally familiar with the pricing (20,000rp). If I say “Hello Mr. Policeman how much is it?” he’ll try to stick me for 100,000rp. I just roll up a 20, and casually pass it over, tidak apa apa.

All my expat friends say whatever you do, do it with a smile on your face and don’t panic.