Khairiansyah seeks House support

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.