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Kalla calls for honesty from arrested legislators
Former vice president and Golkar Party elder Jusuf Kalla called on the 19 politicians arrested in a bribery case surrounding a 2004 central bank election to be honest as it would help the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) resolve the case
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ormer vice president and Golkar Party elder Jusuf Kalla called on the 19 politicians arrested in a bribery case surrounding a 2004 central bank election to be honest as it would help the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) resolve the case.
“The former minister and other legislators must be open about where the bribes came from. It will help unravel the case,” he was quoted as saying Sunday by news portal kompas.com.
He said the KPK’s move to arrest the 19 on Thursday was in line with the legal process and asked other legislators to refrain from criticizing the arrests.
“We would like to believe that if other people were suspects, we would want them arrested. So we cannot make exceptions of ourselves,” Kalla said.
However, Kalla at the same time paid a visit to the detained politicians at Cipinang Penitentiary on Sunday afternoon.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri reiterated her party’s stance that the KPK’s move was discriminatory.
“The KPK should also have arrested the bribe payers, not only those suspected of receiving money,” she said.
Megawati added that the KPK should also investigate other legal cases that contained strong indications of graft, including tax fraud and the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) Bank Century bailout.
“[The Bank Century case] is a major issue that the government and House of Representatives agreed to probe. But there have been no serious efforts made to get to the bottom of it,” the former president said.
The KPK stole the headlines last week when it arrested 19 of 25 politicians suspected of receiving traveler’s checks worth Rp 24 billion in exchange for their support of Miranda S. Goeltom in her bid to become Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor.
Those arrested were from the PDI-P, the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) including former Golkar Party legislator and minister Pazkah Suzetta and Panda Nababan from the PDI-P.
The arrests come at a time of escalating political tension and dissatisfaction with the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
PPP legislator Muhammad Romahurmuzy said it was “difficult not to see a political slant to the arrests”.
“[The arrests] were conducted at a time when the President’s approval ratings are taking a hit and there is discord within the ruling coalition,” Romahurmuzy said.
He was referring to infighting between Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party and Golkar over plans to establish an inquiry committee to probe corruption in the tax office, a recent Constitutional Court ruling that made it easier for legislators to impeach a president, as well as recent accusations by religious leaders that Yudhoyono’s administration lied to the people.
However, Romahurmuzy was quick to add that the PPP “respects the legality of the KPK’s
move. As citizens, we respect it in principle”.
Achsanul Qosasih from the Democratic Party also said his party “respected the move”, but added that the arrests could generate more antagonism toward the Democratic Party.
