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There are further charges that other members of Suharto's family have used their well placed connection with 'Pak Harto' to gain profits, i.e. his brother was recently awarded a multi-million dollar clove importing deal. Corruption in part stems from the traditional Asian attitude of paying deference and presenting gifts to your superiors. Low salaries are another cause of corruption, as civil servants feel compelled to look for other sources of income to buttress their official salaries. A man of standing in the community must maintain an appearance of affluence - clothes, a car, comfortable living quarters, a ritual feast every so often. Furthermore he has weighty responsibilities on his Rp20,000-30,000 per month salary; to support relatives, send his kids to schools, etc. He must accept and seek bribes. Thus, Indonesia is a land where oil-king generals earn US$100 a month, then blow US$50,000 on a daughter's wedding. You can buy the captaincy of a ship (Rp500,000), or to send off a letter extra-fast at the post office (Rp100 extra). You must even pay the teacher in order that your child graduate from the 4th to the 5th grade.

To get your child in to a government high school, the only channel by which he or she may enter a university, it'll cost Rp55,000 in Surabaya, Rp35,000 in Central Java, and as high as Rp75,000 in Jakarta for the privilege. The right amount to the right person at the right time is like putting oil on the big unwieldly machine. The government's 1,2003000% pay increases which took effect in April 1977 were aimed at cutting down corruption and to narrow the gap between high and low income groups. Before April, the highest basic public salaries were 25 times the pay of the most junior civil servants. In April the salary of the lowest paid civil servants, about Rp4000 a month, soared to Rp120,000. About a million civil servants, armed forces personnel and pensioners benefited under the new salary scheme.