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Banten governor's political dynasty comes under threat
The arrest of Tubagus Chaeri Wardhana, the brother of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, on bribery charges could be the beginning of the end of the familyâs political stranglehold on the province
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The arrest of Tubagus Chaeri Wardhana, the brother of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, on bribery charges could be the beginning of the end of the family's political stranglehold on the province.
Only a day after his arrest on Wednesday night, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) slapped a travel ban on Ratu Atut, who has led Banten for nearly a decade and is widely known to have built one of the most powerful local political dynasties in the country after the introduction of direct local elections in 2004.
KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said on Friday that the antigraft body had sent a letter requesting the travel ban to the Law and Human Rights Directorate for Immigration on Thursday evening.
Ratu Atut would be banned from traveling overseas for the next six months, he said. 'So that when she is scheduled to be questioned, she won't be overseas.'
KPK commissioner Adnan Pandu Praja, meanwhile, said that Ratu Atut's travel ban was a part of the anti-graft body's investigation into the high-profile graft case implicating suspended Constitutional Court chief justice Akil
Mochtar.
Tubagus has been accused of paying Rp 1 billion (US$87,000) in bribes to Akil to rule in favor of Lebak deputy regent Amir Hamzah, who challenged the result of the Lebak election at the court. Amir lost the election to Iti Octavia, who also comes from a prominent political family in the province.
Tubagus, like Ratu Atut, is a member of the Golkar Party, which nominated Amir Hamzah.
Antigraft activists in Banten who have long accused the family of corruption and rigging elections to maintain their political power in the province are reportedly celebrating the arrest of Tubagus, seen as a key figure in the family.
The KPK, however, said that no one should jump the gun by saying that Atut was involved in the case.
'It is natural to make such an assumption, considering that her relatives are permanent fixtures in her region,' Adnan said. 'But whether there is a direct connection [between Atut and the bribery case] we have yet to determine.' He added that the KPK would seek information from witnesses before determining Ratu Atut's role, if any, in the case.
Currently, relatives of Atut are top officials in four of Banten's eight regencies and municipalities, with some of them gaining their posts in a controversial manner.
Her sister-in-law, Airin Rachmi Diany, who is also Tubagus' wife, is the head of the South Tangerang regency in Banten, a position she won even though the Constitutional Court found massive cheating and irregularities, with evidence of intimidation, in Airin's victory.
Despite deciding that a re-election should be conducted following the findings, the court allowed Airin to run in the election, raising questions as to why she was not immediately disqualified.
Ratu Atut's stepmother, Heryani, meanwhile, is the deputy regent of the Banten town of Pandeglang. Ratu Atut's brother, Tubagus Chaerul Zaman, serves as the deputy mayor of Serang and her sister, Ratu Tatu Chasanah, is the deputy regent of Serang.
Ratu Atut's husband, Hikmat Tomet, meanwhile, is a Golkar Party lawmaker in the House of Representatives; her eldest son, Andika Hazrumy, represents Banten at the Regional Representatives Council; her daughter-in-law, Adde Khairunnisa, is the deputy speaker of the Serang Council and her brother-in-law, Aden Abdul Khaliq, is a member of the Banten Council.
Ratu Atut herself is no stranger to graft allegations, as she was reported to the KPK in 2011 for allegedly embezzling social-aid funds from the 2011 provincial budget to support her campaign.
She also had a brush with the Constitutional Court when she ran for her second term in 2011. Initially, the vote was challenged by the losing candidates only for the court to reject the challenges.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro said that with Ratu Atut's brother implicated in the bribery case, her seemingly invincible political dynasty had started to show some cracks.
'This is the beginning of a revelation of long-standing corruption, collusion and nepotism [in the family],' she told The Jakarta Post.
Siti said that the case was a window of opportunity for the KPK to root out the corrupt practices of the political dynasty.
Following the travel ban, Ratu Atut conspicuously failed to attend a plenary meeting of the Banten Regional Council, where she was scheduled to deliver a speech.
Banten Deputy Governor Rano Karno said that she had been unwell for four days and thus unable to make the meeting.
With the alleged bribes related to a local election dispute in Banten and her brother implicated in the case, speculation is rife that Ratu Atut had a role in the case in an ongoing attempt to build her political dynasty to control local politics and key posts in Banten.
