The Indonesian government has launched a crackdown on public servants who flaunt their wealth on social media, dubbed the scandal “Filthy Rich Officials”. The campaign was triggered when photos emerged of the son of a senior Jakarta tax official, Mario Dandy Satrio, arrested and charged with physically beating a teenage boy into a coma. Online photos then revealed him posing in luxury cars and on motorbikes paid for, presumably, by his father. The case caused public outrage and prompted questioning of how Rafael Alun Trisambodo, the tax official, had managed to accumulate so much wealth. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the finance minister, removed the tax official from his position and ordered a full investigation into claims he had hidden millions of dollars in wealth and avoided tax payments.
Several other senior officials were subsequently exposed on social media for displaying ostentatious lifestyles beyond their means. SF Hariyanto, the regional secretary of Riau province, responded by calling a press conference to deny that allegations made against his wife, including carrying luxury handbags and riding in limousines, were false. He declared the handbags were fake and provided a receipt to demonstrate the price paid for them was lower than the cost of the genuine article. Esha Rahmansah Abrar, another official, was suspended by the state secretariat following his wife’s social media posts, which revealed a car and several gold bars presented to her as an anniversary gift.
President Joko Widodo has banned all public servants from displaying their wealth and ordered their compliance with annual wealth reporting. However, many Indonesians have lost faith in their government’s fight against corruption since Mr. Widodo’s laws of pre-pandemic times weakened the Anti-Corruption Commission’s powers and simplified its independence. Inequality in Indonesia has increased greatly over the past 20 years, with “the four richest men in Indonesia having more wealth than the combined total of the 100 million poorest people,” according to an Oxfam report.
