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Palace vigorously defends AG appointment

Vice President Jusuf Kalla came to the forefront on Friday to defend his boss’ controversial decision to appoint politician and retired prosecutor HM Prasetyo as new attorney general without prior clearance by the highly respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK)

Hasyim Widhiarto and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, November 22, 2014

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Palace vigorously defends AG appointment

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ice President Jusuf Kalla came to the forefront on Friday to defend his boss'€™ controversial decision to appoint politician and retired prosecutor HM Prasetyo as new attorney general without prior clearance by the highly respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).

Speaking to reporters after attending a teleconference at the Bina Graha presidential office on Friday, Kalla said the public backlash against Prasetyo'€™s appointment was nothing extraordinary.    

'€œThe attorney general [was appointed] based on [personal] capacity, not political-party preference,'€ said the Vice President.

Kalla believed Prasetyo'€™s last position as a senior member of the NasDem Party would not have any influence on his new job.

'€œSome ministers also represent political parties. As long as they have the [leadership] capacity, it won'€™t be a problem,'€ he said.

After leaving the position of attorney general vacant for almost a month, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo surprised many legal and human-rights activists on Thursday by installing Prasetyo, 67, as the country'€™s top prosecutor.

Some activists have questioned Prasetyo'€™s commitment to eradicating corruption and resolving human-rights violations cases, given his political background.

Others, meanwhile, blasted President Jokowi for keeping Prasetyo'€™s vetting process under wraps.

Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto said the President decided not to involve the KPK or PPATK, since the President had received full information from a selection team.

All his Cabinet ministers, however, were required to get a prior green light from the two institutions before their appointment.

'€œThe [selection] mechanism involved the President, Vice President, related ministers, a written report from the National Intelligence Agency [BIN] and a closed report from another institution,'€ Andi said.

Speculation was rife that NasDem chairman Surya Paloh personally lobbied Jokowi to persuade him to pick Prasetyo, who is a former junior attorney general for general crimes.

Earlier this month, the media mogul accompanied Jokowi to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport before the latter took off on his nine-day trip overseas.

On Wednesday, Surya also visited Jokowi at the State Palace to discuss Prasetyo'€™s appointment, according to Andi.

The NasDems were the first political party to form a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) after the latter announced the candidacy of Jokowi, the then Jakarta governor, in this year'€™s presidential election.

The owner of the Metro TV channel also provided generous amounts of free TV coverage for Jokowi during the July presidential election campaign. Surya has secured four Cabinet ministerial positions for his party.

Surya, meanwhile, did not try to hide his support for Prasetyo.

'€œIs it wrong for a former political party member to hold a strategic position [in the government]? As long as he has dignity and integrity, we should support him in taking the position,'€ Surya said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.

The new attorney general has repeatedly insisted that he will do his best for the country.

Jokowi, who traveled to Singapore on Friday to attend the graduation of his youngest son, has not yet made any official statement on Prasetyo'€™s appointment.

Zainal Arifin Mochtar, the director of Gadjah Mada University'€™s for Corruption Studies Center (Pukat) in Yogyakarta said the President should be able to convince the public about his unpopular choice.

'€œTo settle the debate [over Prasetyo'€™s appointment], the President must be able to explain why he considered Prasetyo much better than the other candidates,'€ Zainal said.

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