A lesson from Akbar

A lesson from Akbar

Soeryo Winoto, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced House of
Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who is also the
chairman of the Golkar Party, to three years in jail -- a year
less than what prosecutors demanded -- for corruption two weeks
ago.

The verdict is in fact a national tragedy.

People expected that the verdict would have dealt a harsh blow
to the DPR, Golkar and Akbar as a person. But this has not
happened. The House is finding it difficult to make Akbar step
down from his seat, leaving a number of factions to merely appeal
to him to leave the post.

Legally, there is no way to make Akbar vacate his House seat,
despite the court verdict.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) faction, which dominates the House with its 153
members, has failed to show more vigor in supporting moves to
unseat Akbar from the speaker's chair. Meanwhile, PDI
Perjuangan's initiative -- supported by the National Awakening
Party (PKB) -- to arrange a petition against Akbar has been
considered a sham by observers. In such a condition the House is
well on its way to a critical point where people's trust in it is
further eroding.

Akbar is preparing an appeal to the high court, meaning that
the verdict against him is too weak legally to send him to jail
or to ban him from traveling abroad. According to Law No. 4/1999,
the court verdict has yet to be final and binding.

The law says that the House speaker will be dishonorably
dismissed if the court issues a final and binding verdict against
him. Meanwhile, the Golkar Party, notorious for securing former
president Soeharto's long tenure, is not embarrassed to have a
convicted leader. The party officials have demonstrated their
diehard support to retain Akbar. It was somewhat surprising to
hear statements from Golkar officials calling Akbar's case an
accident.

Banners supporting Akbar fly in many places around town.

The political party has clearly seen the case only from a
political view, insisting that the legal process against Akbar is
merely part of a scenario to eliminate him and to vandalize the
party's image. No wonder deputy Golkar chairman Fahmi Idris said
that efforts to remove Akbar from his seat as DPR speaker could
undermine political stability in the country. He did not
elaborate further on that statement.

Support for Akbar from Golkar members is not surprising as
many Golkar members still rely on Akbar for their fate.

So while the House has neither the guts nor the will to unseat
Akbar, Golkar members have also been persistent to retain Akbar.
Only Akbar can make this decision. But all the signs indicate
that Akbar has no intention to quit the DPR's top post.

Braving escalating demands for him to step down as House
speaker, Akbar left for Hanoi, Vietnam to lead the Indonesian
legislators' delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Organization
conference.

He said he saw no reason to cancel the trip or to restrict his
travels abroad, because "I haven't accepted the court's verdict
and have filed for an appeal".

Akbar could have demonstrated his statesmanship to his party
members and supporters by relinquishing his seats both at the
House and at Golkar, and tell supporters to accept the reality
gallantly, while awaiting the high court's response to his
appeal.

However, this has not happened and is unlikely to happen. This
clearly indicates that ethics and morality are no longer relevant
in our society.

The fact that Akbar is appealing and that the court verdict
has yet to become final and binding is true. But legal
proceedings, which led to the court's conclusion that Akbar is
guilty of embezzling Rp 40 billion in state funds, cannot be
taken for granted.

When, for many people money is so hard to come by but
necessary for their survival, an amount, such as Rp 40 billion --
which the court said was swindled by a group of people, including
Akbar -- is a tremendous and unimaginable amount.

The verdict has raised hopes that Akbar deserves the jail
sentence handed down to him. Far from being a mere legal issue,
it is now one that affects the people's sense of justice,
morality and social responsibility of those involved in the
graft. It is a blatant reality that Akbar and his supporters have
only been leaning on legal aspects, while ignoring morality and
lacking shame.

By constantly referring to mere legalities, Akbar and Golkar
are obviously trying to teach the public "how to respect the
law". This seems to be how Akbar and his supporters translate the
outdated jargon that Indonesia is a country that respects the law
(negara hukum).

For the international community, this is no longer relevant
for Indonesia -- one of the world's most corrupt countries. The
undeniable reality is the unresolved human rights violations, the
chaotic legal system and corrupt officials.

Now the world will be even more surprised upon learning that
a politician convicted of embezzlement can continue to lead a
respected and honored institution such as the House of
Representatives.

Once again, the ball is in Akbar's hands. He has, however,
asserted his image as a typical Indonesian leader, who will fight
to the end to secure his position and reputation as a leader, but
not as a human who respects the common sense of justice and
morality.

By defying this public sense of justice, Akbar is also denying
social responsibility as one of the country's top leaders.

Akbar and Golkar may think that what they are doing is part of
their strong commitment to uphold the law. But deep in the
public's mind what is happening is just plain opposition to
decency.

In the end, history will record that morality, the people's
sense of justice, decency and social responsibility have been
violated by one of the country's leaders in the name of the law.