T

hanks to the House of Representatives ethics council members who voted for an open hearing of a misconduct case implicating House Speaker Setya Novanto, the people have seen for themselves that when politics meddles in business, the result may be rent-seeking practices.

The marathon hearings on Wednesday and Thursday will not prove anything until the council reaches a decision, but for the public the question and answer sessions, which were aired live on TV, are enough to demonstrate betrayal of the mandate they entrusted to House politicians in the general elections of April last year.

Suffice to say that the one-and-a-half-hour recording of a conversation between Setya, fuel importer Muhammad Reza Chalid and PT Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin, which was played on Wednesday, indicates not only a gross violation of the House code of ethics, but also trading in influence, which is as a crime under the UN Convention Against Corruption '€” but which has not yet been adopted in Indonesia'€™s criminal justice system despite the ratification of the international treaty.

Both Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, who reported the alleged misconduct to the council, and Maroef told the council Setya was trying to convince Freeport that he could help the company strike a deal with the government for its contract extension, but in exchange for shares in a power plant to be built in Papua to help the company operate a smelter to process its concentrate.

Freeport might be desperately seeking renewal of its contract for another 20 years before the election year 2019, but there is no excuse for a high-ranking state official like Setya, despite his background as a businessman, to broker a deal with the government, let alone to initiate a private meeting with Freeport'€™s top executive and invite a businessman to attend the talks.

Common sense naturally triggers curiosity about the motive behind Setya'€™s actions, which the council members have to dig out when they grill the House speaker.

In fact, the council stood a great chance of restoring the public trust in the legislative body when it decided to launch the hearing and declared it open to the public. But the way the council members, at least some of them, treated both Sudirman and Maroef '€” as if they were defendants instead of the plaintiff and witness, respectively '€” sends a strong message that they are merely playing politics rather than seeking the truth behind the alleged misconduct.

Of course, as politicians they have to look good in front of their voters, the public and their party leaders, but without taking tough action against possible violations, they will contribute nothing to efforts to put an end to rent-seeking practices that are apparently rampant in the House, as evidenced in the high number of politicians arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The ongoing probe into Setya should not stop at the ethics council. It should pave the way for a criminal investigation, or else we cannot beat the rent-seekers.