Corruptive Behavior of the Heads of Local Governments in Indonesia

Abstract

Corruption occurs at all levels of governance in Indonesia, including both central and local governments. In particular, corruptive behavior at local level have been involving either executive or legislative officials, which, ironically, have largely been implicating executive heads in some local governments. As a matter of facts, studies over discretion as a factor that may have caused corruption have been rarely conducted. Therefore, this paper attempts to highlight how corruptive behavior of the heads of local governments in Indonesia are particularly related to their discretionary powers. To achieve the objectives, this study involves case studies over five corruption cases handled by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that have had a legal binding. The results show that those corruptions have occurred as a result of democratic sociological factors, which may have been related to the cost of local elections, the large number of requests for financial assistance from constituents, and a lack of capacity of the heads of regions under observation. Practically, corruptive behavior appears to be conducted by abusing one’s authority for the purpose of personal gains. Therefore, the behavior occurs not as a result of discretion despite the existence of a number of aspects related to discretions.