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strong>Aug. 15, Online

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a press conference on Wednesday night to counter a statement made by former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari Azhar, who said that the President once discussed the Bank Century bailout during a meeting behind closed doors in 2008.

Yudhoyono claimed that the meeting on Oct. 9, 2008 was aimed at discussing what measures should be taken to save the country from a possible financial crisis, but never touched on the Century bailout.

Antasari, who is currently behind bars for plotting a murder, said that he joined the closed-door meeting, which was attended by several senior government officials, including Vice President Boediono, who was serving as the governor of Bank Indonesia at the time.

Antasari said one discussion topic was a bailout plan for the ailing Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara).

Yudhoyono refuted Antasari’s statement, saying that the meeting’s participants never mentioned the bank’s name.

Your comments:

Right or wrong, there was a meeting. What is the role of the KPK in the meeting?

Ask Antasari. Believe him or not, Antasari has opened a new gate for Century.

Achmad Baihaqi

Perhaps, the term “bail out” was indeed never used.

Henry Manoe

What did they (KPK, Attorney General’s Office, Police Chief) do at the meeting? That’s the big question.

Smilin

Power determines history. Nothing is plausible that spending billions without permission from the authorities.

Bim Bim

It has taken the President four days to respond to Antasari’s accusations.

That should have been enough time for him and his advisers to edit and delete from the minutes, sound recordings, video footage and transcript of the meeting any thing approaching the claims Antasari has made.

Given the time lapse between Antasari’s claims and SBY’s response, one can only assume SBY was using the days in between to orchestrate a response. His response is unconvincing.

Phillip Turnbull