President summons four figures for second anti-graft talk

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 11/02/2009 11:17 AM  |  National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summoned Monday the four public figures whom he talked with on Sunday evening about the controversial arrest of anticorruption commission leaders.
 
Paramadina University rector Anis Baswedan told Antara state news agency that the second meeting was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. at the State Guest House in Central Jakarta.
 
Unlike on Sunday, the government was represented by Coordinating Minister for Security, Legal and Political Affairs Djoko Suyanto in the meeting on Monday, which would follow up three options offered by the President to avoid the controversy escalating into a sociopolitical problem.
 
“I was asked to come at 9 a.m. today to resume our meeting from last night,” Anis said.
 
Anis, State Islamic University rector Komaruddin Hidayat, secretary-general of Transparency International Indonesia Teten Masduki and University of Indonesia’s law expert Hikamahanto Juwana held a dialogue with the President late on Sunday evening to respond to the growing public concern about the police’s arrest of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chiefs Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto for alleged abuse of power. The move is deemed by many as a threat to the country’s anticorruption drive.
 
When asked if the meeting on Monday would lead to formation of an independent fact-finding team to assess the arrest, Anis said: “It is heading for that option.”

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