Reform Amidst the Rubble

Abstract

The epicenter of the earthquake and tsunami was centered in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh, where over 180,000 people were killed and missing; over 5 % of the total population. The losses in in several of Aceh’s west coast cities and districts reached as high as 35 % of their populations. In addition to the loss of life was the loss of livelihoods with one eighth of the population losing accommodation. Schools, hospitals, roads, ports, airports and other critical infrastructure were destroyed. Even the software of modern society, such as the provincial lands registry was destroyed and land ownership records lost.

The Government of Indonesia viewed the unprecedented global outpouring of support to victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatera as a major responsibility to be executed with competence and integrity. Support was provided from 50 countries and from over 900 organisations. It would be fair to say that the Government saw the potential for corruption as a grave threat to the whole reconstruction effort. To prevent this, new systems for accountability and transparency needed to be applied to support effective and timely implementation. These systems had to be applied in communities already suffering the debilitating impact of a long term insurgency and whose governor had just been arrested for corruption. This, in a country, then rated among the bottom ten countries in terms of corruption perception (Transparency International: Corruption Perception Index for 2004. Indonesia ranked 137 out 146 countries with a rating of only 2 out of 10). Business-as-usual and standard operating procedures had to be shelved.