Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam - Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam are set to explore areas of cooperation in fighting corruption, with capacity building as the focus for both countries.
A delegation from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) from Indonesia, headed by Chairman, Antasari Azhar made Brunei their destination for their first international official visit since taking up the position December last year.
The visit to Brunei Darussalam saw the Chairman and Chandra M Hamzah, Vice-Chairman, KPK, as well as Budi Ibrahim, Director for Information Data Processing visit the Anti-Corruption Bureau, yesterday morning before moving onto the Honourable Attorney General on specific legal matters.
In his opening remarks, Pengiran Kasmirhan Pg Hj Tahir, Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau, said that Brunei hopes to exchange their expertise with Indonesia.
"I have expressed interest to learn more (from KPK), look into areas of intelligence gathering. Asset Recovery is also an area Brunei is looking to gain, experience," said Pg Kasmirhan.
His comments were also echoed by Antasari who feels that visit to Brunei will bolster ties between (KPK) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. For Brunei Darussalam, its main strength is the Corruption Prevention Education programme which was implemented in 2006, what many consider to be a world‘s first.
Outlining their intent early on in the year when members of Brunei‘s Anti-Corruption Bureau were in Indonesia, Antasari highlighted some of the experience of the KPK which would prove to be extremely‘ beneficial to Brunei Darussalam.
Over the short term Antasari‘s tenure as Chairman has been impressive. Recently, Urip Tri Gunawan, who was chief prosecutor in a team investigating bad debts of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance, was caught by officers of the KPK accepting a bribe worth US$600,000 in the Jakarta home of one of the bank‘s debtors.
Coveting their experience in intelligence gathering and surveillance has outlined just how serious Brunei Darussalam is taking the threat of corruption.
Meanwhile in a separate interview with the media, Antasari said that Brunei‘s success in implementing Corruption Prevention Education was an area which Indonesia is keen to peruse.
Source: www.brudirect.com (19 Maret 2008)
