Golkar members should not criticize BPK audit: Ical

Golkar Party chief Aburizal “Ical” Bakrie urged on Tuesday that all of his party’s cadres stop criticizing the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) forensic audit on the Bank Century bailout.

“[Members of] the Golkar Party are not in a place to state whether the BPK audit is right or wrong,” Bakrie said.

“We should respect the result of this audit. People should not declare the BPK audit as illegitimate, erroneous or whatsoever,” he added.

Prior to Bakrie’s statements, Golkar was notorious for being the forefront party who was critical of the second-round BPK audit. Golkar lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo, for example, slammed the audit and lambasted it as “politically intervened”.

Observers viewed that Golkar has been utilizing the bailout issue as a political bargaining chip. The Golkar Party led the movement in 2010 in forming the House inquiry committee, allegedly to unseat reform icon Sri Mulyani Indrawati as finance minister due to her row with Bakrie.

The BPK audit found no trace of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s inner circle, including Mulyani and then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, who were two central policymakers behind the Bank Century bailout, profiting from rescue funds worth Rp. 6.76 trillion (US$716 million). (sat)