News Analysis: Is this a stumbling block in SBY's anti-graft crusade?

Pandaya ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 08/12/2008 10:18 AM  |  Headlines

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a confusing message about his commitment to fighting corruption when he retained two ministers implicated in a high-profile Bank Indonesia (BI) bribery scandal.

The controversial decision has undoubtedly eroded public trust and put his hallmark anti-corruption campaign to the test -- apparently for fear of losing support from the political parties that Paskah and Ka'ban represent.

Paskah, a senior politician from Golkar Party which is chaired by (Vice President) Jusuf Kalla, and Ka'ban, from the tiny Islamic-based Crescent and Star Party (PBB), have had their roles in the bribery scandal uncovered by a key suspect.

With his popularity continuing to dive according to recent surveys, the President has wasted a golden opportunity to silence his critics who accuse him of not having the courage to stop corruption in high places.

Yudhoyono argued he would not suspend State Minister/National Planning Board Chairman Paskah Suzetta and Forestry Minister M.S. Ka'ban, or any of his aides, "simply based on somebody's statement".

The "somebody" he referred to is Hamka Yandhu, a Golkar legislator and a key witness in the Rp 31.5 billion (US$3.4 million) bribery scandal; another "somebody" is fellow Golkar lawmaker Anthony Zeidra Abidin.

Yudhoyono promised he would suspend Paskah and Ka'ban only if the Corruption Court names them suspects and eventually dismiss them if they are found guilty.

In the Indonesian political norm, there is no need for state officials to quit or be suspended for being implicated in a criminal case, unless a court of justice declares them guilty. The thing is, however, that the regular judiciary is notoriously corrupt, as proved by another bribery scandal involving state attorneys.

In fact, suspending the ministers would not only have boosted the President's personal standing ahead of next year's elections, but also have cleared his Cabinet of ministers of questionable integrity.

Yandhu set the world on fire when he testified in court that Paskah and Ka'ban were among the 52 House legislators who took the grease money to smooth the amendment of the central bank law back in 2003.

Yandhu told the court he personally handed Paskah a lion's share of Rp 1 billion as then chairman of the House commission in charge of amending the law, and Ka'ban Rp 300 million as a common member.

Ka'ban, who has also been implicated in a forestry corruption case in a separate trial, has repeatedly denied the bribery accusations, as has Paskah.

Before he was summoned by the President for a cross-check over the allegation, Paskah said he had "never been involved in any corruption as a Cabinet minister".

The hot money was only part of an estimated Rp 100 billion that BI board of governors appropriated to help out former senior bank officials standing trial over a multitrillion BI lending scam in early 2000s, according to the court indictment.

The President's reluctance to remove Paskah and Ka'ban is downright inconsistent with what he did last year to then state minister/state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra and justice and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin. At the time, he was showered with praise for firing them for being implicated in a corruption case when they were serving as electoral commissioners. And they were never taken to court.

Among the BI officials, former governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, director of legal affairs Oey Hoey Tiong and head of Surabaya office Rusli Simandjuntak have been named as suspects in the case. All but Burhanuddin have been detained.

Lately, the public has also questioned why the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has not named three former BI deputy governors -- Aulia Pohan, Aslim Tadjuddin and Bun Bunan Hutapea -- whose alleged roles in the misappropriation of the Rp 100 billion fund have been revealed by suspects and witnesses.

The KPK's suspicious indecisiveness about the three has fueled fear that the anti-corruption body has been discriminatory in handling the scandal, possibly because Pohan is the President's son's father-in-law.

This treatment of the three former BI senior officials reminds people of how the KPK in the past under different leadership was very "selective" in handling corruption cases involving members of the elections commission a couple of years ago. Back then, Yusril and Hamid were not brought to trial even though the suspects, who were later convicted, had revealed their involvement when they were serving as fellow commissioners before Yudhoyono picked them as ministers.

Public suspicion has not been eased by the KPK's assurance that it will treat everybody, including Pohan, as equal before the law.

Could it be that the President's insistence on retaining Paskah and Ka'ban is part of his strategy to save Pohan, assuming that the ministers would reveal all if they were put in the dock?

Court documents show that Pohan attended various meetings of BI senior officials on the disbursement of the Rp 100 billion as well as meeting with lawmakers on procuring the billions of rupiah to fund deliberation of the bill.

Now that the President has refused to act on Paskah and Ka'ban and has passed the buck to the KPK instead, the anti-corruption body has to honor its promises to treat every citizen equally before the law.

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