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View all search resultsPDI-P calls Suryadharma a liar
The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Tuesday lashed out at former religious affairs minister Surydharma Ali for claiming its chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri made a 2012 haj illegally by using haj places intended only for registered pilgrims
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T
he ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Tuesday lashed out at former religious affairs minister Surydharma Ali for claiming its chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri made a 2012 haj illegally by using haj places intended only for registered pilgrims.
PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto described the statement as 'a total lie' and accused the former chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) of trying to bring politics into his legal woes by dragging others into his graft case.
'I have consulted [with Ibu Megawati] about it and it turned out that Pak Suryadharma Ali was making sensationalist claims through his court statements,' Hasto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Hasto, however, did not confirm if Megawati, her late husband Taufiq Kiemas and their group of 50 people who flew to Saudi Arabia in 2012 used places intended for regular pilgrims or those alloted for them legally.
A promotional video posted by Maktour travel agent, which organized haj services, on YouTube in November, 2012, showed Megawati and her entourage using the company's services.
The caption of the video read: 'Pak Taufiq Kiemas, Ibu Megawati and families about to perform haj in 2012 through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The entourage includes Public Housing Minister Djan Faridz [now former], [PDI-P senior politician] Pramono Anung and [Megawati's daughter] Puan Maharani. God bless their holy trip.'
In his defense statement against the KPK's indictment at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, Suryadharma said that he had channeled 50 of the around 2,000 unused haj seats, intended for registered pilgrims, to help Megawati and her husband make their trip.
Other alleged beneficiaries of the haj places were former vice president Boediono.
Suryadharma claimed that he gave 100 seats to accommodate his entourage of more than 100 people from the Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres).
There are currently some two million people on the waiting list due to high number of people registered to go on haj in the past 10 years.
Suryadharma also claimed that he gave 70 haj seats to former defense minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and 10 to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) former speaker Amien Rais, as well as two places to popular TV talk show host Karni Ilyas and six for KPK officials and dozens to representatives from various media outlets.
The KPK, which investigated Suryadharma in the haj scandal, also denied Suryadharma's claims saying that none of its officials or investigators received illegal haj seats from the Religious Affairs Ministry.
'We have checked with our officials and found the statement to be false,' KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Andriati said on Monday.
Separately, Religious Affairs Ministry inspector general M. Jasin said that so far there was no regulation that could facilitate punishment for active and former state officials, who are not part of the haj organizing committee, for receiving haj seats illegally from graft-tainted officials like Suryadharma.
'The former and current officials should first think of whether they deserve the haj places or not. The point is, [after the revelation of the haj graft scandal], there are no more state officials who can get seats allocated for registered pilgrims,' Jasin told the Post on Tuesday.
Jasin further said that public officials either active or retired like Megawati, Boediono and Amien should use the regular process if they want to go on haj, except if they have received special invitation from the Saudi Arabia government.
