TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Where is Harun? Family fears for fugitive's safety
The last text message from Harun Masiku to his wife, Hildawati, was sent on Jan
Change Size
T
he last text message from Harun Masiku to his wife, Hildawati, was sent on Jan. 7, a day before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) charged him with bribing a poll body commissioner to secure a legislative seat.
Hildawati said Harun — widely considered a key suspect in the bribery case that has implicated several members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) — had texted her that he had landed in Jakarta from Singapore.
She claims not to have heard from him since.
“I don’t know where Harun is right now, and he never contacted me after the KPK named him a suspect in the scandal,” she told The Jakarta Post on Friday at her house in Bajang Permai housing complex, Gowa regency, South Sulawesi.
Harun's cellular phone was no longer active, she said.
The mystery of the whereabouts of Harun, who has been declared a graft fugitive by the KPK, has sparked speculation about the identity of the obscure PDI-P legislative candidate who shot to notoriety in the wake of the legal case.
His family, who claim to know little about his recent activities, said they were concerned for his safety.
“I’m just worried that he’s being made a scapegoat by people who have interests in the case. I believe that he doesn’t have a large amount of money to bribe officials because he’s not a wealthy person,” said Daniel Tonapa Masiku, Harun's relative.
Daniel described Harun, who has been accused of giving a General Elections Commission (KPU) official Rp 600 million (US$43,995) in bribes, as an introvert who had excelled academically before he made national headlines.
Harun, he said, went to Jakarta in 1994 after graduating from the Hassanudin University School of Law to take a position at Dimhart & Associates Law Firm. In 1995, he began working as a corporate lawyer at telecommunication company PT Indosat.
After three years at the company, he left to pursue a master’s degree in international economic law at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom after receiving the prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 1998.
“He returned to the country in 2001 and lived at my house for eight months. Since then, I have barely had any communication with Harun,” Daniel said.
Hildawati said that she did not know much about her husband. They married in 2017 but have lived separately since.
She said she only knew that Harun had worked as a lawyer while trying to build a career in politics in Jakarta. The man, his wife said, was an introvert and rarely updated her about his activities.
“We didn’t interact well because he is such a reserved person."
Antigraft activists believe that Harun is a key witness in the bribery case and that his arrest and testimony could reveal a "bigger case" and demonstrate the involvement of "bigger people".
They questioned why Harun was so important that the PDI-P chose to challenge the KPU’s decision to give a legislative seat left vacant by a deceased party member to the woman who won the second-most votes in the election.
The party asked for an edict from the Supreme Court to overturn the KPU decision.
Authorities have given inconsistent statements about Harun, sparking allegations that government officials were trying to cover up his whereabouts to protect him.
The Immigration Office and the KPK initially claimed that Harun was overseas, which required the National Police to seek assistance from Interpol to track him down. A few weeks later, the immigration office retracted its statement and instead corroborated Hildawati’s assertion that her husband had arrived in Indonesia on Jan. 7.
The case has prompted calls for the resignation of Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, a senior PDI-P politician, who critics said had a conflict of interest in handling the case. The minister refused to resign and instead removed Immigration Office director Ronny Sompie for the fiasco.
PDI-P executive Komaruddin Watubun said Harun had joined the party ahead of the 2019 general election, adding that he was initially registered as a member of the Democratic Party.
“That’s all I know about Harun. I don’t know about other parts of his track record since he’s a new member of the party,” he said.
PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto, who is reportedly implicated in the bribery case, said he knew Harun and acknowledged his achievements as a Chevening Award recipient and an expert on international law.
“Harun has such a good track record as a law expert. There are only a few Indonesians who have similar accomplishments to him,” Hasto said at the KPK headquarters on Jan. 24. “But still, I don’t know where he is right now,” he added.
The KPK said it would continue to hunt for Harun, asking investigators to visit his house in South Sulawesi and the National Police to issue an arrest warrant.
On Monday, the KPK put Harun’s picture on its official website, stating that Harun had been added to the antigraft body’s most-wanted list.
“We still cannot find Harun because it’s difficult. But having said that, we haven’t encountered any major obstacles [in the search],” KPK spokesperson Ali Fikri told the Post on Sunday. (glh)
