IPDN, campus of corruptors?

This latest sad and very ironic reality or the dark side about Indonesian bureaucracy. After so many deaths over more than a decade, early this month it had to take yet another life of North Sulawesi cadet Clif Muntu before everything become publicly exposed.

IPDN, the Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri or in English Institute of Domestic Governing, it has been a public secret for years about the brutality that has been practiced among the cadets there. Meaning that seniors could at will beat juniors, while the juniors would just have to endure it and remain silent fearing even more severe punishment. Public has know that for years, but the institute would always deny such allegations while none of the cadets would dare to step forward and tell the truth.

In 2003 similar case happened when cadet named Wahyu Hidayat died with similar circumstances. Then 10 of his seniors were convicted to prison, but as it just came to light instead serving their sentence they were in fact working within the government of Jawa Barat (West Java) and some of them holding important positions. Only because of the recent event were they finally arrested in put in prison. How ironic. Because of what happened in 2003 the then called Sekolah Tinggi Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri (STPDN) was reorganized, merged with Insitut Ilmu Pemerintahan (IIP) and renamed by the government into IPDN. While STPDN was the result of merging and centralizing several Akademi Pemerintah Dalam Negeri (APDN) previously spread through out Indonesia.

As in the past IPDN did try to cover up Clif Muntu's death by issuing a statement that he died because of lever illness. Cadets even tried to prevent the police to see the body while at the same time trying to swiftly send it to the departed family back in North Sulawesi. There was also a statement that the family did not agree on autopsy, statement which was never issued by the family. The autopsy later revealed many terifying facts on how Clif died. Some experts suspect that there is clear indication that IPDN seems to have a 'systematic procedure' on how to 'handle' cases like this.

This case would probably just pass by like many before if it was not for the public pressure, especially after people with information stepped forward. One of them, Inu Kencana a docent on the campus has revealed many disturbing facts ongoing within the campus. He stated that according to his data there have been over 30 violence related deaths since early 90s.

Mr.Inu also stated that he has information regarding extortion practices (security money), widespread drug use, free sex practices between cadets (campus has male and females cadets in separate dormitories) and abortion cases. Not to mention that what is suppose to be fully government funded education, meaning that cades don't have to pay for anything and receive allowance each month but in reality the cadets how to pay for uniforms, books, etc. Also according to Mr.Inu some cadets have told him that they have paid a lot of money so they could be accepted into IPDN.

What an irony, while the government is trying to step up the fight against corruption at the same time in its own back yard it's breeding the future corruptors funded with tax payers money. Imagine the cadets who spend four years on the campus are beyond class rooms taught to abuse the power in their hand and use it for their personal interest and pleasure. What will they become once they start as public servants? In the end it's the underprivileged people who will have to pay the price.

Because of the public pressure, the president him self had to step in and issue several direct orders among them freezing any kind of activities outside the class room, suspending IPDN from receiving any new cadets for a year, removing the IPDN Rector Prof.Dr.I Nyoman Sumaryadi from his position and reformation of education system within the campus. Several provinces are threatening that they will not send new cadets before fundamental reformation is performed in IPDN. The government has also formed an evaluation team headed by Mr.Riyas Rasyid the former rector of IIP before it was merged into IPDN. The team is working on location and has already revealed more facts.

Even with the current exposure none of the cadets dare to step forward to tell what is happening in their campus, we can guess that is because of fear of the terror that they may receive if they do so. So we can imagine what kind of influence the senior cadets have on junior cadets, the absolute power. The ones who are stepping forward are the former cadets who mainly quit from IPDN, some even escaped because they could not endure the physical abuse, and one by one they are now revealing what they went through in their time. One of them even had to undergo a therapy because of the trauma.

The STPDN/IPDN alumni state that only handful of irresponsible cadets are responsible for the abuse. This has been rejected by the public and experts believe that physical abuse has become part of the culture within the campus, because the level of violence has increased over the years. The public sentiment that IPDN should be shut down and the tax payers money used for better purpose is also increasing.

As the days are passing more and more gruesome facts are being revealed surrounding the IPDN, more parents of cadets who died in the past are stepping forward demanding the truth. Will this be the end of IPDN? At the time this article was written it was not yet clear what will the government do with IPDN, but whatever will the outcome be I hope it will be in the best interest of the people of our beautiful country, the people who have to work hard to pay their taxes.

We certainly don't need more bullies and corruptors as government officials, we need people who know how to govern with sense of humanity, fair judgment and in best interest of people. After all this people are suppose to be public servants, serving the people and not the other way around.