Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) warns that the national energy transition agenda faces challenges of systemic corruption and policy hijacking by political and business elites. According to ICW, without strong mitigation, the energy transition could turn into a pseudo-project that exacerbates inequality and harms the public interest.
ICW’s Research and Advocacy Division Coordinator Egy Primayogha told an ICW public discussion and the launch of the Anti-Corruption Academy’s “Corruption and Energy Transition” course on Monday, July 28, that the most vulnerable point in the energy transition is upstream, during policy formation. In a practice referred to as state capture, elites take advantage of systemic weaknesses to steer energy policy in favour of certain groups.
“In general, natural resource businesses are very vulnerable to hijacking by elites. In the context of energy transition, we see how policies can be manipulated to favour certain business groups and politicians,” Egy said.
He highlighted that the energy transition narrative is now narrowed down to the development of electric vehicles. As a result, exploitation of critical minerals such as nickel, which is the raw material for batteries, has increased dramatically, while other important issues, such as the early retirement of steam power plants (PLTU) and the elimination of captive power plants in industrial areas, have not received attention.
“With the narrow definition of energy transition, the orientation is directed towards sectors that benefit the elite. This is not just transition, but a new form of exploitation,” he said.
ICW also notes that corrupt practices do not only occur in policy formulation, but also at the project implementation level. A number of findings show that there are cases of corruption in renewable energy generation projects, especially in the procurement of solar power plants (PLTS) and hydroelectric power plants (PLTA).
“The procurement of renewable energy projects often becomes a hunting ground due to a lack of transparency and weak supervision. This is dangerous, because this sector should be the vanguard of Indonesia’s clean energy future,” said Egy.
Furthermore, ICW said that the hijacking of the energy transition policy was reinforced by systematic efforts to weaken oversight institutions such as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), police, prosecutors, the mass media and civil society organisations.
“We see a pattern of weakening institutions that are supposed to maintain accountability. This provides a free space for corrupt actors to control the energy transition agenda,” Egy added.
He emphasised the importance of energy sector governance reform, including transparency in project planning and procurement, strengthening oversight institutions, and involving civil society in oversight.
“If not addressed immediately, the energy transition will only be a slogan. We will lose the momentum to truly build a clean, fair and sustainable energy future,” Egy concluded. (Hartatik)
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