YOGYAKARTA-Corruption happens everywhere. Areas of authority, such as in parliament, ministries, and the police are not immune from corruption. Corruption can also be found in activities of community and humanity, even education. Corruption in education is quite dangerous because it inhibits the improvement of children’s quality and certainly corruption gets students accustomed to it. This is what encourages UGM Student Executive Body (BEM KM) launched Anti-Corruption Students (Mahasaksi) program recently. "This serves as a manifestation of our concern to the problem of corruption that also enters the realm of education," Public Relations of UGM Student Executive Body, Ivan Nassara, said on Wednesday (13/6).
According to Ivan, this program is a community building, providing training for university and high school students from all over Indonesia to strengthen the culture of anti-corruption since young age. The participants will become Anticorruption Student ambassadors who later return to their respective areas and spread anti-corruption views in their regions.
Ivan describes this community has raised a number of principles, namely combining synergy between campuses and schools in Indonesia and establishing gender equity in corruption eradication issues. In addition, it is to build awareness that the state cannot carry out this responsibility alone, but civilians represented by university and high school students should morally be able to resolve the nation’s corruption issues. "In principle, they will return to their hometown to spread anti-corruption views," he said.
Mahasaksi establishes cooperation with many anti-corruption institutions, such as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (PUKAT) UGM Faculty of Law, and IDEA. Training materials are focused on the disclosure of public information, budget monitoring, interception, reporting, and investigation as well as network management.