Endemic Corruption in Indonesia’s Energy Sector

Time: Indonesia has been stunned and saddened by the arrest of Rudi Rubiandini, chief of the country’s top oil-and-gas regulator, SKK Migas, on corruption charges. In a country plagued with graft, Rubiandini had been seen as a clean and upstanding figure — a respected academic and technocrat who had pledged to fight corruption in Indonesia’s lucrative energy sector.

Rubiandini, who took over SKK Migas in January following a brief stint as Deputy Energy Minister, is accused of taking $700,000 in bribes from an oil-trading company; the sum is a record high among the cases pursued by Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). In a late-evening swoop Tuesday, KPK investigators seized stacks of U.S. and Singaporean banknotes and a BMW motorcycle from his home; they also arrested a man who allegedly handed the money and the motorcycle to Rubiandini and an executive of Kernel Oil, a Singapore-based company...