“Bwa ha ha!” my friend laughed loudly over the phone Sunday when he asked me to click to thejakartapost.com and read a statement by Kastorius Sinaga, one of the Democratic Party’s (PD) top executives.

I felt irritated at the way he laughed at Kastorius, whom I regarded highly as a very smart academic with his PhD printed on his business card.

I had to hold my cell phone a distance from my ear because he shouted out Kastorius’ statement. “It is very clear and convincing to us and Pak SBY that there are other parties using the Nazaruddin case as a strategy or loophole to destroy the Democratic Party.”

According to him, Kastorius, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, clearly used the obsolete tactic Soeharto’s regime was fond of by blaming “third parties” for any criticism of his regime. Time has changed and such bluffing is just meaningless now, he said.

The caller, who is never able to see any good things about President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government, did not give me time to act as the head of state’s defense team. He continued jeering the President because he was confident the President had no — and would never — have the guts to take punitive action against his government officials. He also felt Yudhoyono was also too afraid to restore chaos in the party he founded in 2001 and allowed party elites to blame each other in public.

“You should tell SBY to first look at the mirror before blaming others,” the caller said before quickly hanging up.

Millions of his die-hard supporters at the grassroots level who praised Yudhoyono as an “anticorruption warrior” during his re-election campaign in 2009 are growing frustrated — that is the only thing they can do — because rightly or wrongly, they realize now that their highly intellectual general has transformed his role into a “defender of bandits of state assets and wealth”.

Many people around him will joyfully “kiss his ass”, if asked, because they know that after this they will belong to the class of untouchables. And the rule for corruption in this country is very clear: The more massive the scale of your corruption, the lighter the punishment you will receive from judges, and of course five-star hotel treatment awaits you in Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta.

There are so many blatant corruption cases in this country, but the President is apparently already satisfied by his ministers’ and law enforcement officials’ reports that “the corruption allegations came from certain parties who have no chance of enjoying the fruits of development under the President’s leadership”.

Now the President prefers to be surrounded by Mr and Mrs “Yes Sir”. His ministers report to him that public fears of increasing threats from the NII (Islamic State of Indonesia) movement was exaggerated although the police have warned the nation over the danger posed by the movement’s leaders, who endorse all means necessary to collect public funding to finance its glorious goals.

The members of Yudhoyono’s ruling coalition such as the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) are reportedly also busy stockpiling money and accumulating the power they need to win the 2014 legislative and presidential elections while pretending to act as true members of the coalition.

The President ordered his top ministers and intelligence officers on Saturday to bring home Nazaruddin, the party former treasurer, who fled to Singapore after knowing that no one would defend him from corruption charges. Nazaruddin apparently believed it was alright to commit corruption, bribery and extortion as long as he diverted some of the money to party coffers and into the pockets of its top leadership.

What is going on with the President’s party? The President’s inner circle, either in the government or in the party, realize that they must prepare to leave Yudhoyono’s boat and they should rush to take – if necessary rob – any valuables. Many of them feel they are racing against time to accumulate wealth for the sake of their great great grandchildren before jumping into another ship in the 2014 presidential election.

But in responding to criticism against his weak leadership, the President may use this famous saying, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money [power]? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Popular

PDI-P will likely be part of opposition: Ganjar

Indonesia one step from Olympics after beating South Korea

Bahlil leads task force to boost sugar, bioethanol production in Papua