Kwik stands by corruption statement despite reprimand

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and M. Taufiqqurahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Proving to be an honorable man, senior member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Kwik Kian Gie stood by his allegation on Wednesday that his own party was the most corrupt in the country.

Slammed and shunned by leaders of his own party, Kwik, who is also the state minister of national development planning, contended that he spoke nothing but the truth.

"PDI Perjuangan has a clear guideline that we always have to be honest, so I am being honest," Kwik said in an interview aired by Metro TV on Wednesday.

"If the party has a different guideline that teaches its members to lie, then someone has to tell me about it so that I can comply," he remarked.

The minister caused shock waves on Monday when he said that PDI Perjuangan was the most corrupt party in the country, undermining Megawati Soekarnoputri, both as the party's leader and the country's president, who has been tasked with fighting rampant corruption.

He also said that PDI Perjuangan was on the brink of disarray and that corruption would lead to the routing of the party in the 2004 elections. PDI Perjuangan won the 1999 general election, garnering close to 35 million votes from the around 105 million ballots cast.

According to Kwik, his statement was based on the simple logic that corruption has engulfed the whole country and PDI Perjuangan as the ruling party has the biggest chance to profit from such practices.

"Power tends to corrupt. That was the belief of PDI Perjuangan members when we were fighting against the ruling Golkar Party in the New Order regime, and I still believe that," he remarked.

Kwik has always been considered a maverick both in PDI Perjuangan and government because he has never hesitated to speak out against Megawati's policies whenever he perceived unfairness in them.

His latest remark quickly drew opposition from other senior party members such as Taufik Kiemas, who is Megawati's husband, and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea.

"I am not asking Kwik to quit from the party, but members who are no longer in tune with the party's policies and curse the party should quit the party," Taufik said on Wednesday.

Nuwa Wea, on the other hand, underlined that Kwik, as one of the party's executives, had the authority to deal with problems like corruption internally, not by blurting it out publicly.

Taufik said that Kwik should undergo a thorough health examination for making such a statement, adding that Kwik had been abandoned after accusing his fellow party members of involvement in corruption.

"He has been deserted for making such a statement. A long time ago he was begging to be a party executive," Taufik remarked.

Quickly refuting the statement, Kwik said that he had received much support from party members after his public statement, and that he had never begged to be on the party's executive board.

"I will quit the party should the majority of party members ask me to quit or should Megawati as chairwoman suspend me," Kwik said.

"But I will be very sad should I leave PDI Perjuangan because I truly love the party," he remarked.

Kwik also disclosed that he had hosted several meetings for party members to save PDI Perjuangan from collapse, which he said was proof of his loyalty to the party.