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PDI-P on defensive over graft scandal
Instead of disavowing bribery suspect Harun Masiku, who has been named a fugitive, party bigwigs have seemed keen on defending the PDI-P politician, even as more party members get caught up in the case.
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Suspended General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Wahyu Setiawan (center) is accused of asking Rp 900 million (US$65,948) of bribes from ndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Harun Masiku. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
M
embers of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) appear to have closed ranks as the graft scandal involving at least one of its members drags on.
Instead of disavowing bribery suspect Harun Masiku, who has been named a fugitive, party bigwigs have seemed keen on defending the PDI-P politician, even as more party members get caught up in the case.
“PDI-P higher-ups are trying to ensure that the party is not brought down by this case by taking the bullet [for Harun],” Indonesia Political Review executive director Ujang Komarudin told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The party is deeply entangled in the case because it pertains to a dispute between the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the PDI-P over who should take over a House of Representatives seat left vacant by deceased PDI-P politician Nazaruddin Kiemas of the South Sumatra I electoral district. The PDI-P had requested that the seat be given to Harun, even though he received only the fifth-most votes, behind four other PDI-P members. Harun has since been accused of bribing KPU member Wahyu Setiawan in exchange for being named a House member.
Ever since the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) made the first arrests in the case earlier this month, the party has been on the defensive. A few days after the KPK’s first arrests on Jan. 8, the PDI-P’s legal team held a press conference objecting to the KPK’s use of the term “OTT” or raid and defending its endorsement of Harun as a House member.
The team also made a string of highly publicized visits — first to the KPU to discuss the technicalities of the case, then to the KPK’s supervisory council to file a complaint about investigators who allegedly tried to search the party’s offices and then to the Press Council for a “consultation” regarding “harmful” media coverage of the case.
Law and Human Rights Minister and senior PDI-P politician Yasonna Laoly has since been accused of obstructing justice by insisting that Harun had been out of the country since Jan. 6, even though CCTV footage shows Harun arriving at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Jan. 7. Immigration officials later confirmed that the footage was
