Gembira Loka Zoo manager grilled over money politics
Gembira Loka Zoo manager grilled over money politics
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The Yogyakarta provincial prosecutor's office summoned the Gembiro Loka Zoo's general manager, Joko Tirtono, on Thursday in connection with his involvement in the alleged money politics behind the Yogyakarta deputy gubernatorial election last October.
The prosecutors who grilled the suspect were, however, not available for comment.
Joko, who has been accused of having given a total of Rp 1 billion in bribes to certain members of the provincial legislative council to get them to vote for Pakualam IX, who is also the cofounder of the foundation running the zoo, denied his alleged role in the money politics case.
"There was a recent report in Kompas's that the manager of an "animal business" in Yogyakarta was asked to pay Rp 1 billion to council members ... but that's not me!" he said when asked about his alleged involvement in the case following his questioning by the local prosecutor's office.
He acknowledged that he was interviewed by a Kompas reporter on Dec. 17, but said he had not discussed the question of money politics being behind the deputy governor's election.
Quoting a reliable source, the daily reported on Jan. 27, 2002, that the owner of the "animal business" admitted to having been asked to hand over Rp 1 billion to buy votes for Pakualam IX in the deputy gubernatorial election.
Members of Yogyakarta provincial legislature have come under strong criticism from the public over two alleged bribery scandals. They are charged with taking Rp 150 million in bribes from construction company PT. Adhi Karya, which won the tender for the building of the Rp 42.5 billion Jogja Expo Center (JEC) from the provincial government. They were also allegedly involved in money politics during the deputy gubernatorial election by asking Joko to provide a total of Rp 1 billion in bribes.
The local chapter of the Justice Party (PK) revealed evidence of the money politics to the public. PK branch chairman Agus Purnomo said recently that his party's sole legislator, Boedi Dewantoro, had been offered a Rp 35 million bribe from a candidate in the deputy gubernatorial election.
The provincial legislative council elected Pakualam IX deputy governor on October last year, defeating his only challenger prince (KPH) Angling Kusumo, who is also his step brother. Pakulam IX was sworn in as deputy governor on Jan. 16, 2002.
Joko said that paying such a large sum of money would be impossible for Gembiro Loka as it could generate revenue of only some Rp 3 billion to 4 billion per year.
"Come to the zoo and see if the monkeys and other animals we have there are suffering from hunger. Come on! "Paying out a sum of money like that would have forced us to cut our feed budget for the animals in the zoo," he said.
Head of the public relations section of the Yogyakarta provincial prosecutor's office Ranu Mihardja, however, said that his office would continue to investigate the alleged money politics scandal despite Joko's denial.
"It's too late to stop our investigation now. We've just questioned one person, and we'll question more people," he said.