Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi has denied rumors romantically linking him with an unnamed TV news reporter.
The hearsay has been circulating after online news portal Rakyat Merdeka Online on Wednesday broke the story, in which Freddy’s wife, Anni Numberi, allegedly confirmed her husband was having an affair with a newswoman.
In the story Anni reportedly said: “[The rumor] is true that [the newswoman] is Freddy’s girlfriend.”
Rakyat Merdeka Online also detailed that it had obtained a piece of information revealing that Anni Numberi had reported her husband’s love affair to First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.
When Freddy was asked to confirm this on Thursday, he said: “No. That’s not true.”
The transportation minister, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, described the statements made by his wife to Rakyat Merdeka Online as “tall tales”.
“No comment, Ok?” Freddy told journalists over and over at a special meeting Thursday on how to overcome Jakarta’s traffic gridlock at the Vice Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta.
This is not the first time a member of the Democratic Party has been caught in rumors of an affair. In August, online media portals were abuzz with rumors embroiling Darwin Zahedy Saleh in a sex video scandal.
Hearsay also circulated that, as a consequence of the scandal, Darwin, the energy and mineral resources minister, had stepped down from the Cabinet position.
Darwin denied all allegations, and many politicians from the Democratic Party condemned the rumors, describing them as an attempt to tarnish the party’s image.
Commenting on the scandal involving Freddy, Ahmad Mubarok, a member of Development Council for the Democratic Party, said the party would not comment on the matter, as it had so far proven to be nothing but rumors.
“I have no idea [about the allegations against Freddy]. In the case of Darwin, however, I met with him in person, and he said the tapes did not exist. It was obviously slander,” he said, as quoted by detik.com.
Ahmad added that in the case of Freddy, if it were to be true, the Democratic Party could not impose any sanctions, as he had joined the party after being appointed to the Cabinet, simultaneously joining the party’s Advisory Council.
He said sanction imposed on an Advisory Council member fell under the jurisdiction of the Council chairman, who in this case is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
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