JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – Indonesia saw a rise in its corruption score from 34 in 2014 to 36 in 2015.

It marks the 3rd year in a row that Indonesia saw an improvement in its score, after hitting a score of 32 in 2012 and 2013.

The report by Transparency International (TI) says a country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Thus Indonesia’s score of 36 shows the country is still perceived as corrupt.

Overall, Indonesia is ranked 88th in the world, tied with Suriname, Peru, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Albania.

The rank “indicates its position relative to the other countries in the index.” The 2015 index includes 168 countries and territories.

Reacting to the rise, Head of Gratification Department Suprapdiono Giri said the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) welcomed the increase in scores and rankings.

“This is a remarkable achievement. It means despite being in a crisis situation, the Commission in 2015 still rose in scores, indicating that most of the effort to eradicate corruption is on the right track,” he told Rappler.

Giri added, Indonesia’s rise is sustained from year to year, which is hard to find in other countries.

But Giri also acknowledged room for improvement. “These scores could be even better if there was no crisis,” he said.

Giri further said that next year the scores could continue to rise if the political commitment is strengthened.

According to Srirak Plipat, Director for Asia Pacific, there has not been much improvement in the region as a whole.

“Has Asia Pacific stalled in its efforts to fight corruption? This year’s poor results demand that leaders revisit the genuineness of their efforts and propel the region forward with actionable measures,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

Undeserved?

Just last week, a report also said Indonesia rose in TI’s Government Defense Anti-Corruption Index Report.

Previously ranked a “Very High Corruption Risk” in 2013 on TI’s A-F ranking of countries, Indonesia is now seen as in the 4th band, under “High Corruption Risk”.

Tehmina Abbas, one of the authors of that report, said Indonesia’s rise was due to “a lot more commitment to anti-corruption measures” from the government.

Abbas also said other factors that contributed to Indonesia’s rise was more transparency in military persecutions, limited military involvement in business and more compliance to the UN anti-corruption agreement.

However, Al Araf of the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparisal), believes Indonesia doesn’t deserve to climb up the rankings.

“In fact, we might have gotten worse,” he said. “Nothing has actually changed, it’s just words.”

Araf said there is no political will to end the corruption.

“The change needs to come from Parliament. Political parties need to have the goodwill to change what is happening,” he said.
“We need to keep pushing the government for change.” – Rappler.com/ withe reports from Max Stainkamph