Legal battle involving Golkar, NU and PKB starts

JAKARTA (JP): The simmering political battle being waged both in the corridors of power and in the streets moved into the legal arena on Thursday as the Golkar Party filed a police complaint over the vandalizing of its offices while, at the same time, legislators were urging the Attorney General's Office to probe alleged corruption involving top Golkar leaders.

Golkar officially filed a report with the National Police over the vandalizing and torching of the party's offices in East Java, saying that it had caused the party losses of more than Rp 20 billion (US$2 million).

The party also filed a complaint with the police alleging libel against Hasyim Muzadi, the chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama.

The party's lawyer, Lawrence T.P. Siburian, said they believed that the vandalism could have involved people from outside East Java.

"So, that's why we've reported the case to the National Police," Lawrence, who is the head of the party's law and legislation department, told reporters after filing the complaints at National Police headquarters.

He said that the party was urging the police to take immediate action against certain people and groups who were reportedly involved in the vandalism.

He added that the party had identified the groups and bodies who were involved in attacking the party's offices in East Jakarta, but refused to name them.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung separately accused the People's Democratic Party (PRD), City Forum (Forkot), Student Action Forum for Reform and Democracy (Famred) and the City Network (Jarkot) as being the orchestrators of the vandalism.

Lawrence further said that the party had filed a complaint against Hasyim for libel based on the later's statement in the Rakyat Merdeka morning daily on Jan. 31 of this year.

He said that Hasyim in an interview had accused Golkar of being behind the student rallies which were demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid resign.

"This is blatant libel. We've never manipulated the students," he asserted.

He said the party was now demanding that Hasyim prove that Golkar was behind the student rallies.

Corruption

Meanwhile, five legislators from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Manasse Mallo of the Love the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB) called for the investigation of three past corruption cases allegedly involving leading Golkar figures, at a meeting with Attorney General Marzuki Darusman on Thursday.

One of the cases allegedly involves Golkar Party chief Akbar Tandjung while he was state minister of civil housing.

The five PKB legislators, Tari Siwi Utami, Rodjil Gusron, Nur Hasan, Mujib Mustain, Syaefullah Adnawi, together with Mallo, claimed that Akbar, who is also House Speaker, should be called to account for allegedly causing loses amounting to Rp 180 billion to the state.

The legislators said that a report by the State Audit Agency (BPK) on the Civil Servants Housing Savings' Scheme (Taperum), had identified 13 financial irregularities.

Taperum was organized by the now defunct state ministry of public housing, which at the time the irregularities occurred was headed by Akbar.

The six, who claimed to be acting at the behest of the people, also demanded that Marzuki probe five government projects undertaken by the Ministry of Mines and Energy over the last decade, when the ministry was successively headed by Ginandjar Kartasasmita and I.B. Sudjana.

The legislators also claimed to have information that some Rp 2 trillion in non-budgetary funds controlled by the state's cash cow, the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), had been improperly channeled to former president Soeharto's children, cronies and charitable foundations.

Separately, PKB faction secretary Abdul Khaliq explained that the six were making their report as concerned citizens, who also happened to be legislators.

"We are not submitting this report in the name of any particular faction or the House of Representatives, but as common people. We hope that the Attorney General will take action on these case as soon as possible," he told the Post.

"Many of the old cases have been ignored. By doing this we just want to urge the law enforcement officers to pay attention to these cases and to quickly summon some of the people involved," he asserted. (bby/dja)