Democratic Party joins in Bank Century inquiry move

The Democratic Party has finally agreed to support a petition requesting the establishment of a House of Representatives inquiry committee for the Bank Century bailout.

Previously, the Democratic Party, the most dominant party with 148 members out of 560 House legislators, was the only party at the House whose legislators had yet to sign the petition.

On the other hand, more than 230 legislators from the remaining eight political parties had signed
the petition.

The Democratic Party argued that it needed to wait for the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to complete its investigative audit on the scandal, which is said to have cost the country Rp 6.7 trillion (US$710.2 million) in taxpayers’ money.

The money was meant to salvage the bank from its downfall, however, the amount turned out to be a lot higher than the Rp 1.3 trillion bailout agreed by the House.

The Democratic Party also said it would only support the petition only if the audit revealed that there was a criminal violation behind the scandal.

“Today, we have received the BPK audit report. After thoroughly examining it, we concluded that there were a lot of weaknesses and errors in implementing the standard regulations to salvage troubled banks,” the Democratic Party faction chairman at the House, Anas Urbaningrum, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“Based on that conclusion, the Democratic Party will fully support the endorsement for a the Bank Century inquiry committee.

“We have instructed all party legislators to sign the petition, because our main principle is to uphold truth and justice.”

Separately, one of the House deputy speakers, Priyo Budi Santoso from the Golkar Party, said that after the House had officially received the BPK’s audit report, the endorsement for an inquiry committee would be inevitable.

“The BPK does not have enough legal authority to probe into the Bank Century scandal further. Therefore, the only solution is to establish an inquiry committee.”

Priyo’s colleague at Golkar, Bambang Soesatyo, said Yudhoyono had to be very wise in following up the BPK’s audit, otherwise, the President could potentially sink further into a scandalous political tsunami.

“The audit results will definitely seriously impact on the country’s domestic political situation.

“The results could even rock SBY’s governance, considering the fact that the decision to salvage Bank Century was made by two of the President’s most trusted aides, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and the then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono [now Vice President].

“It is very possible that President will receive more pressure to reshuffle his cabinet, because all his political opponents will urge that anyone guilty in the scandal be punished.

“The situation could get even hotter if the rumors are true that a number of political party leaders will receive shares of the bailout funds.”

Meanwhile, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Andi Rahmat, said the Bank Century inquiry committee had to be successfully endorsed for the sake of the House’s integrity as a checks and balances instrument.

“If we fail to do that, we might as well close the House for good.”

The House plans to discuss the endorsement of the committee in a plenary session on Dec. 1.