Khairiansyah seeks House support
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Former state auditor Khairiansyah Salman met with several lawmakers on Wednesday to ask them to monitor his trial in what he described as a "flawed" lawsuit.
"I'm here to tell you my story and hope that the House members will spare some of their time to pay special attention to my legal process," he told a dozen members of House Commission III on legal and human rights.
Khairiansyah received the prestigious Integrity Award from the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) last month for his role as a whistle-blower in a high profile corruption case at the General Elections Commission (KPU), which has seen some of its senior members put on trial. Antigraft crusaders expected Khairiansyah to become an icon in the movement against rampant corruption in the country and encourage other people to become whistle-blowers.
But when he was returning home from Germany, prosecutors surprisingly named him a suspect in another high profile case involving the abuse of haj pilgrimage funds at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. He was accused of receiving Rp 10 million (US$1,008) from the haj pilgrimage funds.
Khairiansyah then temporarily returned the award to TI, pending the completion of his legal process.
Accompanied by TI Indonesia board member and noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, Khairiansyah told lawmakers he had never been questioned by the police or prosecutors prior to his being named a suspect and that the money had nothing to do with the audit of the ministry's pilgrimage funds.
"The money was given as transportation money for me and my supervisor by the religious ministry when they invited us to a conference in Purwokerto. I was assigned to prepare presentation papers and other documents," he said.
Khairiansyah said the conference was held in September 2003, four months after the annual state audit on the religious ministry was completed.
"Besides, the subject of my audit was not the haj pilgrimage funds, but the effectiveness of the haj implementation in Saudi Arabia," he said.
Todung said Khairiansyah's being named a suspect was due to pressure from "people with hurt feelings".
"Four would-be whistle-blowers have stepped back because of fear of being trapped like Khairiansyah," he said.
Immediate responses from the lawmakers were unanimously in Khairiansyah's favor. A couple of them from an Islamic-based party even praised his role in the KPU case and depicted him as "the oppressed".
Lawmaker Ahmad Fauzi from the Democrat Party said he would personally monitor Khairiansyah's case, while others said they would seek more information during the commission's first hearing with the Attorney General's Office.