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ec. 3, 2015

Members of the House of Representatives ethics council on Thursday called into question gold and copper mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin'€™s move to record his conversation with House speaker Setya Novanto and businessman Riza Chalid in the hearing of the ethics violation case filed by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.

House ethics council member Marsiaman Saragih, who is also an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, asked Maroef whether or not he was aware of the legality of recording a conversation in Indonesia.

Responding to the question, Maroef defended his actions, saying that he had recorded the conversation only as a way of taking notes.

'€œ[The way] I recorded it was similar to when I take a note. I also didn'€™t hide my recording device [a Samsung mobile phone],'€ Maroef said on Thursday evening.

Your comments:

So Maroef is the bad guy now because he recorded the conversation? I can'€™t believe the subject is shifting to the legality of the recording, a recording that exposed a major politician'€™s efforts to extract a US$800 million bribe.

And where is the KPK? Oh yeah, I remember now, neutralized by the police. All of this under super president Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

Benam

The other detail that The Jakarta Post has not reported, is that Reza was summoned by the ethics council and he did not show up, despite twice being served with a summons.

The interesting question is why Reza was invited to those meetings? What is the connection here?

Rendang

This case is a time bomb in which the Indonesian President is trying to convince investors to put their money here for infrastructure development. If there is not a strong reaction from Jokowi, Indonesia is finished.

Simple as that. And this is not about the KPK or police or AGO or whatever, because we know how the justice system works here.

It is about an earthquake that is needed to change this country. Because everything is rotten!

If Jokowi doesn'€™t move, he can sell Indonesia to Robert Mugabe for a very low price. And if Jokowi doesn'€™t move on this scandal, hopefully there are still some forces that can clean up the mess. Amen!

I truly believe that this case is a bomb. The Indonesian press is getting all weird about it. Today in Kompas there was an article saying that this is an attempted coup d'€™etat to overthrow Jokowi.

According to the conspiracy theory, Jokowi is stopping corruption so Golkar wants to remove him so Kalla can become President and then it'€™s a '€œgreen light'€ for corruption again. This is the stuff being printed in reputable papers. Interesting times.

Lasem Benny

This is Indonesia, so anyone who exposes corruption is '€œdisturbing peace and order'€. The authoritarian and deeply sick Indonesian state attacks anyone who tries to expose the truth to the people and tries to sidetrack the debate onto the '€œmotives'€ of the person exposing corruption.

The real issue, however, is why did Setya try to extort money from Freeport and did he do so as a fixer for the President? That'€™s the issue here.

LB

US$4 billion is a lot of money. Imagine if they had a chance to share the money. Because in the end that was the target.

Regarding Jokowi, I think he knows exactly how to play the game. I even think he is the pilot behind it.

SJ

This charade at the House is another manifestation of why this country is as underdeveloped as it is, and they never wonder why. In a developed country this case would be cut and dry.

All that needs to be determined is the authenticity of the recording '€” there'€™s established forensic science for that, unless of course these House members are not aware of such science, a distinct possibility with this lot.

As it is now most seem hell bent to protect fellow thief Setya, even that bloke from the PDI-P who one would have thought would be against Setya for dragging the name of Jokowi into the situation.

Don'€™t be surprised, there will be horse trading in the background and in the end they will conclude the recording is illegal or inaudible or indeterminate and Setya will be let off. Everyone'€™s happy, wonderful Indonesia, this is the way we do things '€” I scratch your back you scratch mine. Justice, governance, integrity '€” never heard of them.

Wandering Star

Recording a conversation without consent is not illegal (not even if it is a third party conversation); there is no law yet that regulates that, so it is not illegal. Therefore, there is also no issue in handing over the recording to somebody else.

A comparable situation is if a shop has CCTV, and it records a robbery taking place. The recording is valid evidence.

Sudharsana

Fahri Hamzah (PKS '€” of course, you know the party of the beef scandal that has led to rather high beef prices and, let'€™s not forget the '€œreal counts'€ and so on and on) mentioned during a press conference with Setya and Fadli Zon today that only the BIN and the National Police (he didn'€™t even mention the KPK for some reason) were allowed to do wiretapping or record a conversation '€” of course without reference to any prevailing law '€” but we have to simply believe him '€” he wore the peci when he said so and he hails from a semi-holy party and, he is of course a literate law maker.

So if you, for example, record your daughter'€™s birthday video you have to remove the sound, no phone conversation can be recorded '€” even with consent of the calling partner (I actually record sometimes conversations for business reasons). Also, no music company is allowed to record music.

Gordon Freeman