Studium Generale: The Chairman of RIÂ’s Supreme Audit institution Encourages ITB Students to Fight Corruption

By Medhira Handinidevi

Editor Medhira Handinidevi

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - Thousands of students from various fields filled West Hall of ITB to attend Studium Generale that was held on Wednesday (02/10/13). Chairman of Republic of Indonesia's Supreme Audit Institution (Badan Pengawas Keuangan ,BPK), Drs. Hadi Poernomo, Ak, was invited to this public lecture on the theme "The Role of BPK in Fighting Corruption in Indonesia". This Studium Generale was a part of public lecture "Anti Corruption Education", and also a Grand Opening of West Hall of ITB which has completed its renovation recently.

In his opening speech, The Rector of ITB, Prof. Akhmaloka, gave a warm welcome to some of West Java officials such as Vice Governor of West Java, Deddy Mizwar, Major General of the Third Regional Military Command, Dedi Kusnadi, and Chief of West Java Regional Police Department, Suhardi Alius. This series of public lectures, which were opened to the public and organized by Student Council of ITB and ITB's Directorate of Education, has succeed in presenting great figures with more than 250 participants.


In this public lecture, Hadi started his explanation about the central role of BPK in checking and developing a system in the national cash flow to avoid nation's loss. According to Hadi, BPK has built a system which integrates public finance and private finance in the national data base. "This integration is done to ease the monitoring of cash flows, especially in goods and service procurement inside the government and state-owned enterprises," explained Hadi.


Some methods to audit the state's finance were also explained technically by Hadi, in which, the state's finance has to be separated between public finance and private finance. Public finance covers  National Government Budget (APBN), Regional Government Budget (APBD), Bank of Indonesia's finance, state-owned enterprises finance(BUMN), regional-owned enterprisesfinance (BUMD), and Indonesian Deposit Insurance Council; while private finance covers financial transaction data, debtors, traffic exchange, credit cards, and financial statements of reports which are submitted to the business activities of other agencies. BPK also prioritizes non-cash transactions in every goods and service procurement activities in government  and state-owned enterprises, and effort to minimize cash transactions.


No Obstacles in Fighting Corruption
Students participating in this public lecture seems very enthusiastic in Hadi's explanation. Firman Bismillah (Physics 2009), had a chance to have a brief dialogue with Hadi about the obstacles in fighting corruption. According to Hadi, there are no particular things hampering BPK with it's 3-words-motto: please, apology, and thank you. "If there is any offer or request, my staff and I will directly reject it politely," said Hadi.


Hadi added, BPK also asks for inputs from 13 different universities in Indonesia, including ITB, to develop a monitoring system and to avoid misappropriation of state's finance. "To avoid budget mis-use and fight corruption, do as what I've said earlier. Reject all requests and offers politely," emphasize Hadi.