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Surprise as Golkar'€™s Agung bloc joins council

While Golkar Party leaders had earlier shown support for House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, who is facing allegations of attempting to broker a deal in a mining company lobby, the results of an upcoming ethics examination may not be in his favor with the party’s faction replacing all of its members on the House’s ethics council (MKD)

Tama Salim and Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 27, 2015

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Surprise as Golkar'€™s Agung bloc joins council

W

hile Golkar Party leaders had earlier shown support for House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, who is facing allegations of attempting to broker a deal in a mining company lobby, the results of an upcoming ethics examination may not be in his favor with the party'€™s faction replacing all of its members on the House'€™s ethics council (MKD).

Outgoing council figures from Golkar, Dadang S. Muchtar, Budi Supriyanto and council deputy chairman Hardisoesilo, have been replaced with Ridwan Bae, Adies Kadir and Kahar Muzakir.

Adies and Kahar were previously known as loyalists of Agung Laksono, the leader of one of two camps within the party. Both were rotated from their posts at the House during a leadership battle between Agung and the other camp'€™s leader, Aburizal Bakrie, earlier this year.

In his attempt to control the party faction at the House, Aburizal in April rotated from strategic posts dozens of lawmakers whom he deemed to be Agung'€™s loyalists.

Ridwan, who is also the head of the party'€™s Southeast Sulawesi chapter, was known to stand on Aburizal'€™s side during the dispute, but is also known for his close ties to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a former party chairman.

Golkar faction secretary Bambang Soesatyo said the party had stepped up efforts to assert its presence on the ethics council in order to prevent any attempts at criminalizing its senior members or politicizing the issue at hand.

'€œThe strengthening of the MKD is important for Golkar, especially after receiving information that the [120-minute] original recording implicates many more influential actors,'€ Bambang said on Thursday.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported Setya to the ethics council last Monday for allegedly brokering a deal with the local unit of mining giant Freeport-McMoRan in exchange for helping the company to extend its contract and continue operations at its gold mine in Papua.

As evidence for his report, Sudirman appended the recording and transcript of a tapped conversation between Setya, Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin and fuel import kingpin Muhammad Riza Chalid on June 8.

Bambang, who was known as a stalwart supporter of Setya, but has recently distanced himself from the House speaker, assured that his faction would remain objective and accept whatever result came from the ethics probe, as long as the council dealt with the matter in accordance with the law and offered proof of its findings beyond any doubt.

'€œThe [ethics council] team has to be strong and remain objective; any attempts to criminalize Golkar will be met with overwhelming resistance,'€ he said. '€œ[But] if the opposite turns out to be true, [...] Golkar will fully support whatever decision the MKD rules,'€ Bambang said.

With Setya and a number of other senior party members eyeing the Golkar chairmanship, the party has experienced a renewed split among its ranks with repercussions for its faction at the House.

Setya'€™s main rival for the chairmanship, Ade Komarudin, is the party'€™s House faction leader and a protégé of party luminary Akbar Tandjung, according to a source in Golkar.

Previously, Setya'€™s plea of innocence was met with a lukewarm response from Ade, who said he would support Setya '€œwithin the legal and ethical corridors allowed'€.

Ridwan, one of the new faces on the ethics council, said he had not received instructions from the party'€™s central executive board or the party'€™s faction. '€œThere was no briefing whatsoever from [Aburizal] or the faction leader,'€ he said.

Golkar'€™s own reshuffle of the ethics council roster followed a move by four other factions to leverage support to proceed against Setya on the alleged ethical violation.

The National Mandate Party (PAN), Democratic Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and NasDem Party replaced their ethics council members with other party members who were deemed ready to see out the case.

Earlier, Aburizal and other leaders from the opposition political parties attempted to tackle the ethical examination, arguing the weak legal standing of Sudirman'€™s report.

After repeated pressure, the council finally decided to proceed with the case, with the first hearing set for next week.

The council also decided that it would open hearings to the public to ensure transparency, with the exception of classified details or state secrets, in which case the council can hold a closed-door meeting.

Meanwhile, PDI-P lawmaker and ethics council deputy chairman Junimart Girsang took issue with the fact that the replacement of fellow council deputy Hardisoesilo was done without the prior approval of House leadership.

'€œThere has to be a swearing-in ceremony here [and] an official letter from the faction to the House leadership,'€ Junimart told reporters on Thursday.
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