ABSTRACT
Corruption, Indonesians and foreigners like to say, is endemic in Indonesia: it was a prominent part of the scene prior to the arrival of the Dutch and has scarcely diminished since their departure. In Indonesia, as in many developing countries, corruption carries different connotations than in more legalistically minded industrialised nations. Bureaucratic inefficiencies and large-scale corruption both add to the cost of making products in Indonesia and, more broadly, retard the growth of the economy. The army shares the business community view that Tommy has done more than the other crony businessmen in making nepotism and corruption a serious political liability for Soeharto. Cloves are one of Indonesia's most important commodities. The eastern Indonesian commodity traders began buying cloves in 1987-88 but had trouble selling the spice. The clove monopoly typifies, albeit in an extreme form, the economic and political distortions created by widespread corruption and nepotism.
