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Council to decide how to conduct Setya case
For the sake of transparency: The House of Representativesâ ethics council will consider the publicâs rights to privacy and information in deciding whether the hearing of ethics violations allegedly committed by House Speaker Setya Novanto (pictured) will be open to the public
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For the sake of transparency: The House of Representativesâ ethics council will consider the publicâs rights to privacy and information in deciding whether the hearing of ethics violations allegedly committed by House Speaker Setya Novanto (pictured) will be open to the public. (Tempo/Dhemas Reviyanto Atmodjo) (pictured) will be open to the public. (Tempo/Dhemas Reviyanto Atmodjo)
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span class="inline inline-center">For the sake of transparency: The House of Representatives' ethics council will consider the public's rights to privacy and information in deciding whether the hearing of ethics violations allegedly committed by House Speaker Setya Novanto (pictured) will be open to the public. (Tempo/Dhemas Reviyanto Atmodjo)
The House of Representatives' ethics council is set to decide during an internal meeting on Monday whether a hearing surrounding ethical violations allegedly committed by House Speaker Setya Novanto will be open to the public.
House ethics council chairman Surahman Hidayat said that in the meeting, the council would determine how the hearing would be conducted and when it would be held, based on the principles of the rights to privacy and information access.
'Everyone can ask that the hearing is open to the public. If we do so, it cannot be said that we violate laws because a hearing of an ethical violation case can be open to the public as long as it is in line with prerequisites mandated by existing laws,' Surahman told journalists at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Monday.
An existing council regulation stipulates that a hearing of an alleged ethics violation should be closed to the public.
In the meeting, Surahman said, 17 members of the council would consider the public's rights to privacy and information before it decided whether it would make Setya's hearing open to the public.
The Prosperous Justice Party politician further said that even if Setya's hearing was open to the public, it was only House ethics council members, invited parties and crewmembers of the House's internal television station TV Parlemen that could enter the room.
Surahman said the ethics council had also verified evidence of Setya's alleged ethical violations, which were earlier reported to the council by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.
'We will treat the report of this case just like we handle other cases. After we receive a report we must first verify, according to general procedures,' he said.
Surahman said it was only after the hearing was conducted that the council could impose sanctions on Setya.
The ethics council is planning the hearing as a follow-up to Sudirman's report that Setya had misused the names of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla and attempted to trade government favors for shares in giant gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI).
In his report, Sudirman handed over a three-page conversation transcript and an 11-minute audio recording of a conversation between Setya, PTFI president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin and oil and gas businessman M. Riza Chalid. (ebf)(+)
