Managing Conflict of Interest - Organisation for Economic Co ...

Conflict of interest in Indonesia: From alegalistic approach to effective institutionalchangeArief T. SurowidjojoLawyer, IndonesiaContext of Conflict of Interest in IndonesiaConflict of interest (COI) as a concept is not very well understoodby the Indonesian people, at least compared with their understandingof the concept of corruption. The media’s dramatic publicationof hundreds of corruption cases involving the misappropriation ofthe state budget, coupled with the Corruption Eradication Commission’s(KPK’s) successful anti-corruption public awareness campaigns,has made the public more aware that the Government istaking serious measures to eradicate corruption. With regard toCOI, Indonesian people, in politics, legislation, and daily conversation,are more familiar with the terms in the acronym KKN (for “corruption,collusion, and nepotism”), although most of them do notnecessarily understand the basic characteristics of each term or theextent to which each term differs from the other two. Simply put,only a few people understand that COI could be a corrupt act initself or could lead to an act of corruption.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) defines a COI as a situation that arises “…when apublic official has private-capacity interests which could improperlyinfluence the performance of his or her official duties and responsibilities.”This definition implies that a conflict of interest exists assoon as it is suspected that inappropriate considerations or conditionsmay influence somebody’s performance or decisions, i.e.,even before any inappropriate behavior has taken place. 1Indonesia is aware of the growing global consensus on whatconstitutes COI and how it should be addressed. National law hasattempted to follow international covenants, such as the United1It is noteworthy that this definition could also be applied in the private sector.ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific