A group of Indonesian activists and journalists have recently launched the website Korupedia.org, created as an ‘encyclopedia’ of corruption cases in Indonesia. The online platform aims at exposing individuals who have been accused and convicted of corruption, and it has managed to reach millions of internet users already in the first weeks after its launch.
According to Ratna Dasahasta, the website’s chief editor, the initiative aims to increase access by citizens to more detailed information on corruption cases. As media coverage of corruption is usually limited to high-profile cases, and few individuals have access to court documents, most people have little information on the judicial outcome of corruption cases. Therefore, Korupedia intends to facilitate access to such data.
Moreover, the naming-and-shaming strategy adopted by the project seeks to increase the negative impact of involvement with corruption over the image of politicans. Ms. Dashasta pointed out that many politicians and public officials convicted of corruption keep on with their careers in the public administration as if nothing happened, and continue to be seen as prominent and prestigious individuals. The project thus attempts to impose a kind of ‘social sanction’ on them.
A list of 120 names and respective photos, together with the accusations based on which each politician and government official has been convicted, is already available on the website, and the number of documented cases is expected to grow rapidly, as the project’s staff currently analizes material on 900 additional cases.
For more information read the article “New Indonesian Website Names and Shames Corrupt Officials” on the Wall Street Journal blog. The picture featured above is the official logo of Korupedia.
