A cultural constraints theory of police corruption: Understanding the persistence of police corruption in contemporary Indonesia
| Author | Sharyn Graham Davies,Adrianus E Meliala,John W Buttle |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815573875 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2016, Vol. 49(3) 437–454
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865815573875
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Article
A cultural constraints theory
of police corruption:
Understanding the persistence
of police corruption in
contemporary Indonesia
John W Buttle
School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Faculty of Applied
Humanities, New Zealand
Sharyn Graham Davies
School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Faculty of Applied
Humanities, New Zealand
Adrianus E Meliala
University of Indonesia, Indonesia
Abstract
Despite a decade of reform, Indonesia’s police continue to be plagued by systemic corruption.
This article examines the reasons for the persistence of police corruption by firstly estab-
lishing that corruption is rife and then discuses Indonesian police reform post-Suharto. The
international understandings are explored with a view to developing a definition of police
corruption that accounts for sociocultural and historical factors in Indonesia. There is an
examination of the relevance of international theories of police corruption for Indonesia. It is
argued that these theories are only partially applicable to Indonesia and the authors posit the
‘cultural constraints theory of police corruption’, which accounts for invitational, slipper y
slope, noble cause, and predatory theories, but recognizes the distinct nature of Indonesia.
Keywords
ethical policing, Indonesia, police corruption, police deviance, police misconduct
Introduction
Since the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia has undergone large-scale political and
economic reforms while on the way to becoming one of the largest democracies in
Corresponding author:
John W Buttle, School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Faculty of Applied Humanities, AUT City Campus, AUT
Tower, Level 14 Cnr Rutland &Wakefield Streets, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Email: john.buttle@aut.ac.nz
Asia (Djani, 2009). The judiciary now has greater independence and a national campaign
against corruption has been undertaken since corruption was identified as a political and
economic barrier to international investment in Indonesia (Martini, 2012). However, the
country persistently scores poorly on international ratings of governance due to its high
levels of corruption (Martini, 2012). Transparency Internationals global corruption bar-
ometer indicates that 36% of Indonesian respondents reported having paid bribes for
services, while only 1% of Australian participants in this study claimed the same
(Hardoon & Heinrich, 2013), indicating that corruption is deeply embedded in
Indonesian society.
Corruption in Indonesia is a particular problem where the criminal justice system is
concerned (Winarta, 2009); the police are a central component of this problem. On a scale
of 1 (not being corrupt) to 5 (extremely corrupt) the police rate 4.5 and the judiciary rate
4.4 (Hardoon & Heinrich, 2013), indicating that the Indonesian criminal justice system is
perceived as being by corrupt. As gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, the police
provide the judiciary with opportunities to apply corrupt practices. Reiner (2000) sug-
gests that how the police are utilized often reflects on society’s political order. Therefore,
the treatment people receive from the police is often perceived as a reflection of the
fairness of the government and state institutions that make up the criminal justice
system (Tyler, 2004). If citizens have faith in state law and the criminal justice system,
then voluntary compliance to the wishes of the police is likely to become a regular occur-
rence. In short, the legitimacy of any given police organization can be viewed as a bar-
ometer with which to measure the strength of the state’s political institutions and the
economic and social well-being of citizens. Given the centrality of policing to the success
of emergent newly forming democracies (Hinton & Newburn, 2009), it is important to
focus attention on why corruption is rife in the Indonesian National Police (or Polri).
Research aims
It is a difficult proposition to effect real change and implement effective programs to
adequately solve the problems associated with police deviance (Van Reenen, 2010).
Corrupt policing has survived if not flourished despite numerous attempts to instil an
ethos of community policing into Polri (Meliala, 2001c). The aim of this research is to
ascertain not just the deeply entrenched causes of police corruption in Indonesia but the
reasons why this form of police deviance has been resistant to change. This article is an
exploration of which theories best explain police corruption in Indonesia. The aim is to
create an understanding that incorporates the main theories of police corruption within
an explanatory framework flexible enough to account for the influences of the socio-
historical context of Indonesian cultures. This notion is termed the cultural constraints
theory of police corruption.
Method
Police corruption is a controversial subject and needs to be treated sensitively by
researchers. Therefore, the identities of participants in this study will remain confidential
and demographic and geographic details will be presented in a way that obscures the
438 Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 49(3)
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