Kwik admits mistake in corruption remark

JAKARTA: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) executive board chairman Kwik Kian Gie said Thursday that he was wrong to label the party as the most corrupt of the country's political parties.

"I was told that I was wrong (in naming the party as the most corrupt)," Kwik said after a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, in her capacity as PDI Perjuangan chairwoman, at the State Palace on Thursday.

He was accompanied at the meeting by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea and State Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi.

Kwik, the State Minister of National Development Planning/Bappenas, said his statement was a connotation in nature which was not based on any calculation, and therefore it was wrong.

He, however, said that he would remain critical of the party and the government.

"However, I have to be more careful," he added.

During the meeting, Megawati did not comment much, Kwik said.

"It seems that she knew the problem before we brought it to her."

Kwik said last Monday that PDI Perjuangan was the most corrupt political party in Indonesia and that it would break apart in the next elections. --Antara