Mega camp fends off bribery allegations<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan and Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post\/Medan\/Bandung<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's campaign teams in North
\nSumatra and West Java provinces have been rocked by allegations
\nof vote-buying via an eyebrow-raising lending scheme involving
\nthree state-owned banks.<\/p>\n
In North Sumatra, the provincial Election Supervisory
\nCommittee (Panwaslu) established a team on Tuesday to investigate
\nthe allegations that Megawati's campaigners offered low-interest,
\nno-collateral loans to hundreds of state plantation workers in
\nthe province.<\/p>\n
According to information received by Panwaslu, the president's
\ncampaign staff recently offered employees at state-run plantation
\ncompanies here the cheap loans, which would be in breach of the
\nElection Law, said Choking Susilo Sakeh, the chairman of Panwaslu
\nin the province.<\/p>\n
The plantation companies, including PT Perkebunan Nusantara II
\nand III, operate in several regencies of the province. Choking
\nsaid, while adding that hundreds of the plantation employees had
\nregistered for the loans with a group of people that they
\nunderstood to be members of the Megawati campaign team.<\/p>\n
The workers were instructed to take a letter given to them and
\nthey would receive the loans from Bank Artha Graha and Bank
\nMandiri in the province. The loans offered by the group range
\nbetween Rp 1 million and Rp 5 million.<\/p>\n
Choking said that some of the people who signed up for the
\nloans were not employees of the companies, merely residents who
\nlive near the plantations.<\/p>\n
The secretary of the newly formed Nationhood Coalition
\n(including Golkar, PDI-P and PPP), which is campaigning on behalf
\nof Megawati, Effendy Naibaho, denied the allegation.<\/p>\n
\"We've had no such program. The allegation is aimed at
\ntarnishing Megawati's name ahead of the election,\" said Effendy.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether the loan maneuver was truly the
\nwork of the Megawati campaign team or whether it was a smear
\nattempt against Megawati.<\/p>\n
In West Java province meanwhile, a campaign spokesperson for
\nfrontrunning presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
\nraised the issue of a nearly identical loan scheme, only that the
\nbank involved was state bank PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).<\/p>\n
Yudi Widiana Adi, a Susilo campaign worker, questioned why BRI
\nwas suddenly involved in such unprofitable lending practices,
\nespecially without collateral, just two weeks prior to election
\nday on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n
He said there were reports of thousands of people in Sumedang,
\nMajalengka and Sukabumi regencies who had applied for the cheap
\nloans for their \"small- and medium-sized enterprises\", with a Rp
\n3 million credit ceiling, after they were told that BRI was
\ncurrently offering the scheme. In another odd twist, most of the
\npeople who have received the loans have been led to believe that
\nif Megawati is elected, their debts would be written off, said
\nYudi.<\/p>\n
\"We do not oppose lending to small businesses, but why has the
\nbank done this kind of scheme at this time, just two weeks away
\nfrom election day,\" wondered Yudi, while urging Panwaslu to
\ninvestigate the alleged scam.<\/p>\n
Megawati's campaign spokesperson in West Java said he did not
\nsee why there should be any allegations. Edi Susiyanto, one of
\nthe provincial campaigners for Megawati, claimed that the bank
\nhad been offering these types of cheap loans for many years.<\/p>\n
Secretary of the provincial Panwaslu, Teten Setiawan, said
\nthat he would investigate the report.<\/p>\n
The alleged scandal comes at a time when banks nationwide are
\npromoting loans to small businesses, however, with collateral and
\nat standard market interest rates. Many bankers and economists
\nbelieve such loans can be relatively risk-free and produce
\ngreater liquidity amid slow investment in the country.<\/p>",
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