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Prabowo urged to support investigation into House speaker
Reconciled: Gerindra Party patron board chair Prabowo Subianto (left) makes a statement to the press after meeting President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo at the Bogor Palace on Jan
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span class="inline inline-center">Reconciled: Gerindra Party patron board chair Prabowo Subianto (left) makes a statement to the press after meeting President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo at the Bogor Palace on Jan. 29. (Kompas.com/Indra Akuntono).
As a senior figure in the Red-and-White Coalition, it is hoped that Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto will support the investigation of an alleged ethics violation by House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, in which he allegedly falsely presented himself as a representative of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Lingkar Madani Indonesia (Lima) political expert Ray Rangkuti said the House ethics council's investigation into Setya's case tended to be subjective and appeared to have an aim to protect the senior politician of the Golkar Party, one of the opposition coalition members.
Therefore, he said, Prabowo must honor his promise to curb state losses made during his presidential election campaign.
Ray said the misuse of the names of the President and Vice President, in which Setya allegedly attempted to trade government favors for shares in giant gold and copper mining firm Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), could have led to state losses if not publicly exposed.
'As promised during the campaign, we hope Pak Prabowo will, together with us, stand on the front line to prevent state losses, which could happen through, among other things, attempts to trade government favors for shares in the company,' he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Tuesday.
'Just investigate SN [Setya Novanto] immediately. Make his hearing open to the public and create a panel to handle this case so that the investigation results are objective,' said the activist.
As reported earlier, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported to the House ethics council a conversation reportedly recorded during a meeting to discuss Freeport's contract extension. It is alleged that during the meeting, Setya asked for a 20 percent share in the company on behalf of Jokowi and Kalla.
In an internal meeting on Tuesday, the ethics council decided that the hearing of Setya's case would be open to the public.
The council's deputy chief, Junimart Girsang, said that if necessary, the council could close the hearing temporarily to the public.
If there is information that should be kept confidential, witnesses could ask the ethics council to temporarily close the hearing to the public, he said.
'In a case in which something may be highly confidential and should not be disclosed to the public, we will hold a hearing closed to the public,' said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) activist.
The ethics council is set to hold a plenary meeting again on Monday. In the meeting, the council will arrange a meeting schedule, including the list of parties to be summoned for questioning. (ebf)
