Governor's wife admits to owning homes

Yuliansyah, The Jakarta Post, Banjarmasin

The wife of South Kalimantan Governor Sjachriel Darham, Herlinawati, contradicted on Monday earlier statements by her husband, saying the couple did own two luxury houses in Pulomas, East Jakarta, and another in Malang, East Java.

Under mounting public pressure, Sjachriel earlier said that one of the two houses in Pulomas belonged to his son-in-law, who is married to his daughter Ira Erliyanti.

"The one located in Block VI-A is our house, but another one in Block VI-B belongs to my son-in-law, not to my family," Sjachriel said.

The governor also stated that if necessary, he was willing to be questioned by the Public Servants Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) about his assets.

However, Sjachriel was dealt a major blow on Monday when his wife admitted that the two houses in Pulomas belonged to the couple and that the family's house in Malang was a gift from Sjahriel's staff.

"The house in Malang was built by my husband's staff," Erlinawati said in Banjarmasin.

These contradicting statements have fueled public outrage over the whole affair.

Action Committee Caring for People's Anguish (Kappera) chairman Syafriansyah Noor said that Sjachriel had lied to the people.

"Herlinawati's statement underlines the fact that Sjachriel deceived the public," said Syafriansyah.

Syafriansyah also questioned the gift of the house in Malang from the governor's staff.

"This multibillion rupiah gift is crazy. It raises big questions among the public," he said, adding that people were questioning whether this was an instance of collusion.

Syafriansyah also condemned Sjachriel for only declaring his wealth after the public pressure became too great to ignore.

His organization has demanded that Sjachriel resign for deceiving the public.

According to Syafriansyah, this whole affair had motivated Kappera to investigate the wealth of other outgoing governors, who may have hidden assets from the public.

Meanwhile, there are reports that a team from the KPKPN will arrive in Banjarmasin soon to investigate the matter.

The team will follow up on the findings of several non- governmental organizations regarding the case.