A golden gap

There's no fence or fortress against an ass laden with gold. The veracity of these words of a sage was proven in the House of Representatives recently.

The House's secretary-general accused the legislative body's internal affairs bureau of "carelessness" in the procurement of souvenir gold rings that were presented to outgoing legislators. The souvenirs turned out to be only gold-plated.

A cruel hoax? It could be. But it depends on the individual, because in reality truth is seldom just black and white, many times it can turn gray.

Reports said the House set aside Rp 395,000 (US$112) for 10- gram, 22-carat gold rings for each of the 500 legislators. But when outgoing House members received them, they found each ring weighed between 8.6 and 10 grams, and were only 10 to 14 carat gold. Their approximate market value was less than Rp 100,000.

In reaction to the ensuing outcry, the House secretary-general said there was no illicit business behind the error.

Later, the same official admitted that his staff had been careless when they received the rings from the supplier and did not properly check for quality or weight. He also said the supplier had promised to replace the gold rings.

Up until Tuesday, 194 legislators had returned their rings due to the lowered standard. On the same day the case was declared closed by Deputy House Speaker Abdul Gafur.

Is the case so simple? Maybe not when we consider the gap between the hasty conclusion and reality. And what has happened to the much drummed-up built-in supervision?

Disappointed legislators have regarded the case as both a humiliation and possible fraud. So the question of the sincerity of all parties involved needs to be thoroughly investigated.

For example, why did not PT Hutari Unggul Lestari, the company appointed to supply the rings, check the quality and weight of each ring before they were handed over to the House?

Since the same blunder was also committed by House internal affairs members, we believe there could be more to it than carelessness. Further investigation is needed to find out whether there was any intention of manipulation at the cost of the dignity of honorable House members.

Since gold has been universally traded through the ages, international trade standards have long been recognized by educated people around the globe. This makes it hard to believe that this kind of golden activity could happen in the House every five years.

A legislator complaining that he could not appraise his ring at a state-owned pawn shop in Central Jakarta due to a ban imposed by the House secretary-general provokes another mystery. Why is there such an order limiting the freedom of a legislator, someone elected by the people? Or was it a ploy to cover up something?

We welcome the Attorney General's Office announcement that it will investigate the ring forgery to find out whether there was any corruption involved. If it turns out that such was the case, the incident will surely tarnish the image of this nation, whose executive and judicial branches of government have been accused of harboring corrupt officials. If the legislative body, which is supposed to conduct social control, is also involved in corrupt practices, the humiliation will be completely incurable.