T

he leader of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) says that expelled member and co-founder Yusuf Supendi is trying to smear the party with graft allegations.

“This is an internal matter, typical of those faced by other parties — but outsiders are attempting to exaggerate and capitalize on it,” PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq said in Bandung on Saturday.

Luthfi was in the West Java capital to open the PKS’ provincial chapter’s working meeting at the Sasana Budaya Ganesha.

Yusuf, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) between 2004 and 2009, filed complaints with the House’s ethics board and the Corruption Eradication Commission on March 16.

In the complaints Yusuf alleged that PKS executive council member Hilmi Aminuddin and PKS secretary-general Anis Matta misused party funds, while Luthfi had slandered him.

Yusuf alleged that Luthfi accused him of molesting someone’s wife — an allegation he disputed. “For God’s sake, I have never misused ‘my special thing’,” Yusuf told reporters after filing the report.

The report further alleged that Anis embezzled Rp 10 billion (US$1.15 million) in campaign funds from unnamed Middle East sources.

The money, according to Yusuf, was part of Rp 50 billion in donations to former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret.) Adang Daradjatun’s campaign to run for Jakarta governor in 2007.

Yusuf said he had sought an internal settlement with the party’s officials to no avail.

Anis did not sue Yusuf for defamation for making the allegations, which he denied, saying that it would prolong the “unhealthy debates”.

Yusuf said he had not been politically manipulated, while Anis said political interests were behind the accusations.

Luthfi said the allegations made against the PKS leaders might be personally, not politically, motivated.

“I’m not sure organizations are behind the plot. It’s personal,” he said, adding that the matter would not undermine party solidarity.

“Invisible hands are playing games, but that will not affect us. We are not worried that it will be detrimental to the party,” he said.

Lutfhi said Yusuf was expelled from the party last year in accordance with the PKS’ rules, rejecting the idea that Yusuf’s maneuvers resulted from his expulsion from the party.

“The PKS is not ruling out that party members can do no wrong — but we ensure that there are control and reward-punishment mechanisms,” he said.

Hilmi declined to comment on Yusuf’s allegations, saying they were launched only as plot to undermine the party.

“The PKS is not taking it seriously,” he said.

The matter should be deliberated by the team appointed by the party’s executive board, he said.

“Let justice have its say. We are not supposed to talk personally. We are an organization and we have advocacy team,” he said.

Critics speculated that Yusuf’s allegations were driven by party
politics.

The PKS, a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ruling coalition, supported creating a special House commission to investigate tax corruption, a move opposed by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party.

The PKS, which was founded as the Justice Party in 1998 before changing its name in 2002, currently holds 45 of 550 seats in the House.