Induction of graft convicts angers public
The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Padang/Banda Aceh
The swearing in of graft convicts and suspects at the legislatures of Cirebon, Banda Aceh and Padang municipalities has sparked protests among the local people.
In Cirebon, hundreds of students staged a protest on Wednesday after they discovered that 11 of 30 councillors -- who had been inaugurated that day for the 2004-2009 term -- were suspects in a graft case.
Protesting at the Cirebon Council, the students yelled at the councillors and demanded the 11 suspects to resign.
The 11 had been reelected to the council in the April 5 election, and are facing trial on charges of embezzling Rp 997.8 million (US$105,031) in operational funds from the municipal budget.
The 11 represent several political parties in Cirebon, including the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The secretary-general of the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement and coordinator of the protest, Soibary, said: "(The councillors cannot be trusted any more."
He also called on other student groups and anticorruption activists in Cirebon to step up pressure against the inauguration of the allegedly corrupt councillors.
Separately, Cirebon Cultural Council chairman Achmad Syubbanuddin Alwy proposed that the respective political parties recall the 11 councillors to restore public trust in the council.
In Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam province, six councillors who are defendants in a graft case are due to be inaugurated in September.
Despite mounting public pressure, Yusmar, the chairman of Banda Aceh General Election Commission (KPU), said that the KPU would remain inaugurate them on the ground that the Banda Aceh district court had not handed down verdict above five years in jail to them. According to law, only councillors sentenced above five years in jail will be expelled from the legislature.
The six councillors were arrested in May for allegedly embezzling Rp 5.6 billion (US$589,473) of the Banda Aceh budget.
In the West Sumatra capital of Padang, seven of the 45 members of the Padang city council sworn in last Friday for the new five- year term stand accused of misappropriating Rp 10.4 billion (US$1.15 million) from the 2001-2002 budget.
In addition, of the 55 provincial legislators to be sworn in this month, three are former city councillors being tried by the Padang District Court for their roles in the same scandal.
"The trend just goes to show that our leaders are not thoroughly screened," said Dr. Mestika Zed, a history professor at Padang State University.
Mestika is also a former coordinator of the Care for West Sumatra Forum (FPSB), an anticorruption watchdog that uncovered the graft cases of the West Sumatra legislature and the Padang municipal council.
"This clearly indicates the weakness of law enforcers, not only in combating corruption, but also in other cases. Why have convicts and suspects been sworn in? Their induction could have been postponed," he said.
Mestika also urged the public and the media to object vocally and consistently against other suspects and convicts holding public office.