Jacob's supporters vow to occupy ICW's office
Jacob's supporters vow to occupy ICW's office
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
About 100 people rallied in front of the South Jakarta office of
the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) on Saturday following the
latter's plan to report Minister of Manpower Jacob Nuwa Wea to
the police.
The protesters accused the watchdog of slandering Jacob with
its findings on alleged corruption involving the minister, and
threatened to occupy the ICW office if it failed to apologize to
Jacob within three days.
They said they represented the Jakarta Bulls (Banteng Jakarta)
and Eksponen 27 Juli ("Figures of July 27" in reference to the
violent 1996 attack on the headquarters of the then Indonesian
Democratic Party). Banteng Jakarta is reportedly affiliated to
the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) led
by President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
The protest was peaceful, and Ade Irawan, one of the few ICW
staffers at the office at the time, said nothing had been
damaged.
Earlier, ICW deputy coordinator Danang Widoyoko said he
planned to report Jacob to the police after the latter grabbed
him, hit the back of his head and swore at him at the end of a
Metro TV talk show, ignoring the stunned host, Desi Anwar. The
talk show on migrant workers, including the incident, was aired
live late on Wednesday.
Danang had raised the results of an ICW investigation based on
reports from the public that instead of holding a proper
assessment of insurance firms to cater for migrant workers, the
minister had given his personal recommendation for the
appointment of five insurance firms, as part of a government
policy to provide a special insurance scheme for migrant workers.
Jacob denied the allegation,
Rafael Redy, chairman of Eksponen 27 Juli, of which Jacob is a
member, said in a statement made available to the media that
Danang should publish an apology to the minister in five national
dailies within three days, or else more people would be mobilized
to occupy the ICW offices.
Eksponen 27 Juli also accused ICW and Metro TV of conspiring
to unseat Jacob. "The discussion was about finding a solution to
the migrant worker problem but it got diverted and ended up with
Minister Jacob being accused of corruption ..." Rafael said at a
press conference held at the Minister's office.