President wants action against slanderers

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has demanded that anyone quoting his name in recordings, which reveal a plot to fabricate evidence to implicate two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders, be heavily punished.

“Legal action will be taken because the defamation of the President is a serious matter,” presidential spokesman, Dino Patti Djalal, said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Dino said Yudhoyono had pledged his full commitment to settle the KPK issue, and therefore, the President greeted with open arms the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) to play the recording and to fully disclose its contents publicly.

“This case must be settled so we can identify the individuals quoting the President’s name in the taping. He [Yudhoyono] wants to know why someone would use the President’s name with impunity,” he said.

The recording is the latest piece of evidence resulting from an escalating row between the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on one side and the KPK on the other.

The controversy began when the KPK wire-tapped a phone conversation by police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji, which hinted at the possibility that the high ranking police officer received bribes in the Bank Century debacle.

Susno then famously said “How dare a lizard challenge a crocodile?” when he found out the KPK had wire-tapped him. Many feel Susno was referring to the KPK as the weaker lizard and the National Police as the stronger crocodile.

Since then, the row has escalated and reached a peak when the police detained KPK deputy chairmen Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto.

A transcript of the tape circulated in the media before the arrest, implying the possible fabrication of evidence by the police, the AGO and some suspected corruptors to incriminate the KPK leaders.

The existence of the tape was then confirmed by the KPK interim chief, Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, and was played for the first time in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.

During the playing of the recording, which was aired live by various television networks, a number of legislators expressed concern about the state of the country’s law enforcement institutions.

“The recordings reveal the AGO and the police in a new, unfavorable light,” Nasir Jamil, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said at the House of Representatives in Jakarta.

“Now that the tape has been played, we have to ask what happened to the agenda to reform the AGO internally?” he added.

Ganjar Pranowo from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said in his Facebook status update that it was very frightening for him to listen to the content of the tape.

The House of Representatives Speaker, Marzuki Alie from the Democratic Party, said that any law enforcement officers mentioned in the tape should be punished more heavily than common civilians if they were proven guilty of fabricating evidence with a view to weaken the KPK.

Susno and deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga are some of the high ranking officials mentioned in the recordings.