M

edan-based labor union leader Agustinus visited the North Sumatra Legislative Council (DPRD) headquarters on Thursday in hopes of meeting local councilors and sharing local workers'€™ objections to a recently issued government regulation that outlines limitations on annual wage adjustments.

However, Agustinus and several other union leaders had to leave the compound in disappointment as they could find no councilors on that working day.

'€œWe are very disappointed as we could not meet a single councilor to talk to,'€ Agustinus told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The usually busy North Sumatra DPRD headquarters, located on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Medan, turned quiet earlier this week when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named DPRD speaker Ajib Shah and four former DPRD speakers suspects in graft cases in which suspended North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho was implicated earlier.

Apart from Ajib, a Golkar Party politician, the KPK named on Tuesday Chaidir Ritonga, also from Golkar, Kamaluddin Harahap of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Sigit Pramono Asri of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Saleh Bangun of the Democratic Party suspects for allegedly accepting bribes in connection with the DPRD'€™s approval of several documents endorsed by the North Sumatra provincial administration, including the revised 2013 regional budget (APBD) and the 2014 and 2015 regional budgets.

Ajib served as DPRD member for the 2009 to 2014 period prior to securing the DPRD'€™s leadership last year, replacing Saleh, who worked alongside Chaidir, Kamaluddin and Sigit.

Of the five suspects, only Sigit and Kamaluddin failed to win their reelections during last year'€™s campaign for legislative seats.

Saleh, however, recently decided to resign as councilor before running as a candidate for the Binjai mayoral election, scheduled to be held concurrently with another 268 local elections on Dec. 9.

The KPK'€™s move against the politicians came just weeks after the antigraft body arrested Gatot, Gatot'€™s wife Evi Susanti and their lawyer OC Kaligis in a sting operation in Medan in July for allegedly bribing three Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) judges.

The three judges ruled to annul the investigation of the North Sumatra Prosecutor'€™s Office into the social aid fund and local budget disbursement cases. The Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) reopened the two cases after the PTUN ruling.

On Monday, the AGO named acting Pematang Siantar mayor Eddy Sofyan a suspect for allegedly embezzling the social aid funds when he was serving as head of the North Sumatra'€™s office of nation unity, politics and community protection (Kesbangpol Linmas). This has left Pematang Siantar, located some 100 kilometers southeast of Medan, struggling with an absence of leadership.

'€œToday [Wednesday], we were planning to meet Pak Eddy to discuss some of the city'€™s programs. The meeting, however, must be canceled as the mayor was not at his office,'€ local youth figure Tagor Sitohang told the Post.

Political observer Shohibul Anshor Siregar from Muhammadiyah University of North Sumatra applauded the law enforcers'€™ aggressive move in naming local politicians graft suspects. '€œThis is evidence that corruption has become massive,'€ he said.

Separately, Kamaluddin said he had been shocked upon hearing his status as suspect. He insisted that he had never received any rewards or prizes that could be considered as bribes. '€œAs a good citizen, I will follow all the legal processes and also the upcoming trial,'€ he said.

Eddy said something similar. '€œI will allow any law enforcement efforts to go on,'€ he said.