Committee a 'test case' for DPR's credibility
Committee a 'test case' for DPR's credibility
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A noted religious scholar lashed out at legislators on Thursday
over their attempts to thwart the establishment of a special
committee (Pansus) of the House of Representatives (DPR) to
investigate the high profile Bulog scam involving House Speaker
Akbar Tandjung.
"The DPR's credibility is at stake. The Bulog scam will be a
test case as to whether the House wishes to heed the people's
aspirations, or whether the members just want to pursue their own
short-term interests," Mudji told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Mudji warned that a failure to pursue the scandal, which
involves the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), along the right
track would diminish the public's trust in the House.
Calls have mounted for the House to form a special committee
to probe Golkar chairman Akbar, who was declared a suspect by the
Attorney General's Office for accepting Rp 40 billion in Bulog
funds illegally disbursed by former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan.
The calls, however, have fallen on deaf ears, with the
reluctance of the legislators to investigate Akbar raising
questions as to their moral integrity.
Mudji said the establishment of a special committee to probe
the allegations against Akbar was a must if the House wanted to
earn the public's trust.
"The committee would provide political impetus so as to
encourage a serious, transparent and fair investigation into the
allegations of corruption made by the Attorney General's Office
against Akbar," he said.
"The DPR's ploy to foil the establishment of the committee
will impede the anticorruption drive in the country," Mudji
added.
Legislator Mochtar Buchori of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) acknowledged on Thursday that
legislators in the House were afflicted by moral turpitude.
"The public's assumption that the DPR today will represent the
people's true feelings is false," Mochtar told The Jakarta Post.
He said that in every case, the selfish perspectives of the
legislators prevailed.
"When they are about to face a case, they will ask themselves,
"What is my interest in that case? Does this case affect my
position in the DPR?"
"This is ironic, since they ignore the people's interests. If
they are really fighting for the people, they would ask
themselves whether the case in question would affect the lives of
the people and, if it did, they would then fight all out against
it," he asserted.
He said that most legislators in the House wanted to protect
Akbar for fear that he (Akbar) would make public the corruption
committed by fellow legislators.
"Because if Akbar is found guilty, he will reveal to the
public the fact that all of the parties received the Bulog
money," he said.
A Golkar executive revealed recently that all political
parties had received a share of the Rp 40 billion in Bulog funds,
except for the People's Democratic Party and the Justice Party.