Dissolve the current legislature<\/p>\n
The following is the first of two articles based on a
\nconference paper by sociologist George J. Aditjondro, a lecturer
\nat Australia's Newcastle University.<\/p>\n
NEWCASTLE, Australia: Recently, the move to push Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri into the presidential seat has become stronger.<\/p>\n
But is that the solution to the current stalemate between the
\nexecutive and legislative branches of the Indonesian government?
\nOr will it only be followed by another stalemate, centered around
\nanother corruption scandal, in six months time?<\/p>\n
Reports of the growing cancer of corruption within Megawati's
\ninner circle, and also those of corrupt practices among top
\nleaders of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR) clearly shows that simply replacing
\nAbdurrahman Wahid by Megawati is surely not the solution.<\/p>\n
The solution should rather be found in dissolving the current
\nlegislature -- most of whose leaders come from political parties
\nwhich violated the 1999 bans against excessive party donations
\nand electoral graft -- and have a new election, in which only
\nthose parties which did not violate those 1999 laws can take
\npart.<\/p>\n
The new elections would be supervised by a new General
\nElections Commission committed to enforce all bans against
\npolitical corruption, especially excessive contributions and
\nelectoral graft.<\/p>\n
Only in that way can we have a multiparty system, without the
\nmultiparty corruption now thriving in our political system.<\/p>\n
Allegations of corruption and favoritism has been raised
\nagainst Megawati's husband, Taufik Kiemas. He has been the focus
\nof media reports in news portal detik.com and tabloid Adil which
\nportray the South Sumatran businessman as rescuing Marimutu
\nSinivasan, the boss of Texmaco, one of the biggest debtors to the
\nIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), from criminal
\ninvestigations after allegedly accepting a position as a
\ncommissioner of the conglomerate.<\/p>\n
Taufik has also attracted media attention for allegedly
\nwinning favorable deals in the US$2.3 billion Jakarta Outer Ring
\nRoad (JORR) project, the $2.4 billion double track railway
\nproject from Merak on the tip of West Java to Banyuwangi on the
\ntip of East Java, the $23 billion Trans-Borneo highway, and the
\n$1.7 billion Trans-Papua highway in West Papua (Panji Masyarakat,
\nAug. 30, 2000).<\/p>\n
The JORR project seems to be the most politically sensitive
\namong these potential megaprojects, since it strongly depends on
\nJakarta Governor Sutiyoso. This retired general is sitting on hot
\npotatoes given his alleged role in the 1996 attack on the
\nheadquarters of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party when he
\nwas in charge of the city's security as the Jakarta commander.<\/p>\n
The government and the party's silence over investigations
\ninto the case, which led to days of rioting, raises questions
\nover whether Sutiyoso might have offered Megawati's side a
\nlucrative deal in the JORR project in return for being let off
\nthe hook, as reported by the above magazine.<\/p>\n
The news bulletin, Xpos, mentions that Sutiyoso's bribe to
\nTaufik amounted to Rp 15 billion, in addition to Rp 10 billion
\npaid to Roy Janis, the head of the Jakarta branch of Megawati's
\nparty, PDI Perjuangan.<\/p>\n
In its internet edition of May 22-28, 2000, Xpos showed proof
\nof these alleged bribes and also exposed Sutiyoso's offer of
\nanother perk to win over Taufik's favor, namely a license to
\nmanage an offshore floating casino in Jakarta Bay.<\/p>\n
As far as the JORR project is concerned, the Governor's
\nattempt to be absolved from his alleged political crime in the
\nJuly 27, 1996 disaster does not seem to be limited to Taufik.<\/p>\n
The children of two ministers in the Cabinet are allegedly
\nalso involved in determining which company will be involved in
\nthe megaproject.<\/p>\n
Further, two of Taufik's younger brothers, Santayana Kiemas
\nand Nazaruddin Kiemas, have allegedly accepted appointments as
\ncommissioners of one of the Gajah Tunggal companies, to rescue
\nSyamsul Nursalim, the conglomerate's boss, from similar criminal
\nprosecution.<\/p>\n
Taufik allegedly put some good words to the President about
\nSyamsul Nursalim, after the tycoon sponsored Megawati and
\nTaufik's New Year holiday in Hong Kong, according to Adil (Jan.
\n2001) and other reports.<\/p>\n
Nazaruddin is also named in the same report as having lobbied
\non behalf of Djoko S. Tjandra, one of the main suspects in the Rp
\n546 billion Bank Bali scandal. After two hearings at the South
\nJakarta court, Tjandra was acquitted by the court.<\/p>\n
This acquittal raised strong public protests in Jakarta, since
\nthis was one of the stumbling blocks for the legitimation of
\nformer president B.J. Habibie's presidency. Habibie's friends had
\nallegedly used these funds to bribe a significant number of MPR
\nmembers to elect Habibie as president in the October 1999 MPR
\nsession, as reported among others by Kompas in November 1999.<\/p>\n
These reports show another feature of Taufik's business
\nconnections, namely the predominance of young people from his
\nhome town, Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra.<\/p>\n
According to these news weeklies, Nursalim's link to Taufik is
\nDudy Makmun Murod, a legislator from Palembang. Dudy's father, a
\nretired lieutenant general and former Army commander, also sits,
\nincidentally, on Gajah Tunggal's board of commissioners.<\/p>\n
Other members of this \"Palembang mafia\" reportedly include
\nformer student leaders and environmentalists, who have become
\nbusiness operators for Taufik, to the dismay of their fellow
\nactivists. This includes M. Yamin, a lawyer and former student
\nactivist in the campaign to defend victims of the huge Kedungombo
\ndam in Central Java, and Zulkarnain M.S., an engineer and former
\ndirector of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (WALHI).<\/p>\n
Influence in the bureaucratic sphere seems to be divided
\nbetween members of the two ruling families. While Gus Dur's
\nbrother Hasyim Wahid has attracted media attention due to his
\ninfluence in IBRA, Taufik has been allegedly influencing the
\nappointment of the Director General of Customs, Permana Agung.<\/p>\n
The closeness of this financial officer with the Vice
\nPresident's husband is alleged to cover up for Taufik's luxury
\ncar-importing business, Adil reported in January 2001.<\/p>\n
A luxurious car dealer which the author visited last January
\nin Cipete, South Jakarta, is allegedly partly or wholly owned by
\nTaufik, showed dozens of luxurious sedans and four-wheel drive
\nvehicles, that cost half of what other well-established car
\ndealers were demanding in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
None of these allegations against the Vice President's
\nhusband, his brothers and friends have been legally proven, so
\nfar. However, it is widely talked about in business circles and
\npoliticians in Jakarta, and among members of Megawati's own
\nparty.<\/p>\n
Hence, MPR Speaker Amien Rais recently called for \"people
\naround Megawati Soekarnoputri to cease their corrupt practices,
\nto safeguard Megawati's position when she becomes President\",
\nkoridor.com reported in February 2001.<\/p>\n
However DPR and MPR speakers are not free from corruption
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n
Amien has allegedly amassed huge political donations from
\nmembers of his National Mandate Party (PAN). These were to
\nfinance his campaign trips to Sumatra prior to the 1999 general
\nelection, and later his trips to maintain his constituency in
\nSumatra after becoming MPR Speaker.<\/p>\n
These donations amounted to billions of rupiah, since it
\nincluded such luxuries as helicopter trips during the 1999
\nelection campaign. These costs amounted to approximately Rp 1
\nbillion for every three days of his campaign.<\/p>\n
Reports say these donations are mainly from PAN members who
\nwork at Mitra private hospitals, which are in turn part of the
\nKalbe Farma pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n
It is unclear whether these \"donations\" are seen as personal
\ndonations to Amien, or official donations from Kalbe Farma to the
\nMPR Speaker -- hence a private donation to the state -- or a
\ndonation from a private company to a political party, namely
\nPAN.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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