Kwik stands by corruption statement despite reprimand<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and M. Taufiqqurahman, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Proving to be an honorable man, senior member of the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Kwik Kian Gie stood
\nby his allegation on Wednesday that his own party was the most
\ncorrupt in the country.<\/p>\n
Slammed and shunned by leaders of his own party, Kwik, who is
\nalso the state minister of national development planning,
\ncontended that he spoke nothing but the truth.<\/p>\n
\"PDI Perjuangan has a clear guideline that we always have to
\nbe honest, so I am being honest,\" Kwik said in an interview aired
\nby Metro TV on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"If the party has a different guideline that teaches its
\nmembers to lie, then someone has to tell me about it so that I
\ncan comply,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
The minister caused shock waves on Monday when he said that
\nPDI Perjuangan was the most corrupt party in the country,
\nundermining Megawati Soekarnoputri, both as the party's leader
\nand the country's president, who has been tasked with fighting
\nrampant corruption.<\/p>\n
He also said that PDI Perjuangan was on the brink of disarray
\nand that corruption would lead to the routing of the party in the
\n2004 elections. PDI Perjuangan won the 1999 general election,
\ngarnering close to 35 million votes from the around 105 million
\nballots cast.<\/p>\n
According to Kwik, his statement was based on the simple logic
\nthat corruption has engulfed the whole country and PDI Perjuangan
\nas the ruling party has the biggest chance to profit from such
\npractices.<\/p>\n
\"Power tends to corrupt. That was the belief of PDI Perjuangan
\nmembers when we were fighting against the ruling Golkar Party in
\nthe New Order regime, and I still believe that,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
Kwik has always been considered a maverick both in PDI
\nPerjuangan and government because he has never hesitated to speak
\nout against Megawati's policies whenever he perceived unfairness
\nin them.<\/p>\n
His latest remark quickly drew opposition from other senior
\nparty members such as Taufik Kiemas, who is Megawati's husband,
\nand Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea.<\/p>\n
\"I am not asking Kwik to quit from the party, but members who
\nare no longer in tune with the party's policies and curse the
\nparty should quit the party,\" Taufik said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Nuwa Wea, on the other hand, underlined that Kwik, as one of
\nthe party's executives, had the authority to deal with problems
\nlike corruption internally, not by blurting it out publicly.<\/p>\n
Taufik said that Kwik should undergo a thorough health
\nexamination for making such a statement, adding that Kwik had
\nbeen abandoned after accusing his fellow party members of
\ninvolvement in corruption.<\/p>\n
\"He has been deserted for making such a statement. A long time
\nago he was begging to be a party executive,\" Taufik remarked.<\/p>\n
Quickly refuting the statement, Kwik said that he had received
\nmuch support from party members after his public statement, and
\nthat he had never begged to be on the party's executive board.<\/p>\n
\"I will quit the party should the majority of party members
\nask me to quit or should Megawati as chairwoman suspend me,\" Kwik
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"But I will be very sad should I leave PDI Perjuangan because
\nI truly love the party,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
Kwik also disclosed that he had hosted several meetings for
\nparty members to save PDI Perjuangan from collapse, which he said
\nwas proof of his loyalty to the party.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kwik-stands-by-corruption-statement-despite-reprimand-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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