The Week In Review: Between commitment and reality

Sun, 11/01/2009 11:45 AM  |  Opinion

Just a week after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took his oath as a re-elected President, and only a few days after the new Cabinet members were sworn in, the nation has already witnessed an amalgamation of promising, but concurrently unexpected state affairs.

With the aim of garnering input on key and strategic development issues that will be used to help construct policies for the next five years, the government organized a three-day National Summit of top national and regional government officials, academics, activists, business leaders and practitioners. The summit ended Saturday.

Meanwhile, as if to keep up with the pace set up by the President, Cabinet ministers raced against each other to prove they had and could meet their first-100-day-target programs, a model of which was introduced by Yudhoyono himself.

One of them was Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi who made bold moves on Tuesday. He harshly criticized the operator of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, specifically over the poor condition of Terminal I of the airport and its dirty toilets. The same day, he dismissed head of the Kota Railway Station upon finding the station untidy during an impromptu visit to the station one day earlier.

Another was a move on Monday by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar to directly observe services provided by the ministry, especially in the manpower sector. Upon receiving complaints from migrant workers seeking employment abroad, the minister vowed to have the employment and protection agreement for Indonesian workers working overseas reviewed immediately.

Both were but a few examples of commitments and actions made by the country's high-ranking officials handpicked by Yudhoyono to help him run the show for the next five-year term of his presidency and to settle problems within the jurisdiction of each Cabinet minister.

However, the general Indonesian public not only witnessed promising deeds of the new Cabinet ministers in the past week, they also witnessed the continuing controversy surrounding the recruitment and appointment of Cabinet ministers - with the "last-minute" appointment of Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih as health minister instead of Nila Juwita Anfasa Moeloek being the most controversial. The latter had previously been tipped as the health minister-to-be after she was summoned to Yudhoyono's residence in Cikeas, Bogor, and even had undergone the health examination like other ministerial candidates.

So controversial was the deletion of Nila from the list and the overnight inclusion of Endang on the new Cabinet list, that speculation was rife there was a connection with the annulment of a contentious sub-article on tobacco in the recently endorsed health law, which was regarded by some as an effort to protect the country's cigarette industry.

Endang's appointment also triggered disappointment at the House of Representatives - at least its health commission - which criticized the House leadership's unilateral decision to cancel a planned hearing with Endang. House health commission chairwoman Ribka Tjiptaning questioned the integrity of Endang as a health researcher - the latter's position prior to her appointment as minister.

However, the most daunting controversy was the unexpected development in the country's anticorruption movements, especially the surprising detention of two suspended chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) - Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto - by the National Police on Thursday.

Beyond the general public's expectations, the Police headquarters apparently defied suggestions made by fellow law enforcement institution the Attorney General's Office (AGO), which urged the Police on Wednesday to drop the case against Chandra and Bibit if Police could not produce sufficient evidence against the pair. However, both the suspended KPK executives were detained on charges of an abuse of power and bribery.

The investigation into Chandra and Bibit had been controversial since the very beginning. The questioning of the two commenced upon a written testimony by suspended KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who was at that time under investigation by the police for an alleged involvement in the March 2009 murder of state pharmaceutical company director Nasruddin Zulkarnaen (the trial for which is currently underway). In Antasari's written testimony, Chandra and Bibit were associated with the bribery scandal involving businessman Anggoro Widjojo. Both Chandra and Bibit have denied allegations, including those mentioned in Antasari's written testimony, and claimed all accusations and criminal charges against them were baseless and fabricated.

The alleged "criminalization" of Chandra and Bibit, directly or indirectly, led to disharmonious relations between the Police and the KPK, especially after National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji appeared in public and was quoted in the media saying he had been wiretapped amid investigations into the high-profile Century Bank scandal. Susno did not mention the institution that had tapped his cell phone, but many believe he was referring to the KPK, which has such authority. So controversial was the arrest of Chandra and Bibit that President Yudhoyono's name was mentioned in one of the transcripts of a telephone conversation, believed to have involved a brother of Anggoro Widjojo and high-ranking members of the judiciary.

The saga surrounding the prosecution of Chandra and Bibit as well as the Cabinet members' initiatives to take bold actions in their early days in office are evidence of the government's commitment to upholding justice and meeting public expectations. What is still lacking is moves by the government to make all these commitments a reality. The nation is waiting.

- Imanuddin Razak

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