Lists of more crooked politicians released

Lists of more crooked politicians released

Oyos Saroso H.N. and Hasrul, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung/Kendari

Non-governmental organizations made public on Friday the names of
crooked politicians in Lampung and Southeast Sulawesi provinces
and urged people not to vote for them in the legislative election
on Monday.

An alliance of 38 student, academic and journalist groups said
there are at least 190 unscrupulous politicians in Lampung, who
were currently contesting the election.

They comprise 75 members of the Lampung Provincial Legislative
Council, 45 councillors in Tenggamus regency, 45 in Bandarlampung
regency and 25 others in Kota Metro regency, as listed by the
NGOs grouped under the Movement Not to Vote for Rotten
Politicians (GJPPB).

GJPPB spokesman Saad Sobari said they were included in the
list for their alleged role in corruption, offending the people's
sense of propriety and lacking empathy for the poor.

The movement distributed brochures urging locals not to vote
for them in the election and instead give their support for
honest and clean candidates and those not involved in human
rights violations or drugs abuse.

"The greatest achievement of the councillors is their passion
for corruption. They take cuts from the budgets. The corruption
has been camouflaged by their role in drafting the budgets," he
said.

Saad said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
topped the list.

In Southeast Sulawesi, prodemocracy groups also released the
list of 45 names of unscrupulous legislative candidates, most of
them from the Golkar Party.

They said at least 26 of the names were from Golkar, nine from
PDI-P and four from the United Development Party (PPP).

Hidayatullah, spokesman of the groups campaigning against the
unscrupulous politicians, said they were implicated in cases of
corruption, human rights violations, sexual harassment, public
deception and conspiracy with blacklisted investors.

The list came out as the result of verification and data
collected through the media and other sources, he added.

Hidayatullah said the criteria used to judge the crooked
politicians included whether they abused their power by
neglecting their duty as state officials, hampered efforts to
fight corruption or used state facilities for personal interests.

Also, the vast wealth of the politicians on the list was also
questioned as it was not consistent with their official salaries,
he said.

He said it was the prodemocracy movement's commitment to make
the list public, so people would be cautious and would not elect
representatives who were not credible in the upcoming election.

Hino Biohanis, a senior Golkar executive who is the Southeast
Sulawesi Legislative Council speaker, threatened to sue the
activists for mentioning his name.

"What they are accusing me of is not true. It's libel. All
this time as a councillor, I've never been involved in corruption
or bribery," he said emotionally.

Similarly, another Golkar legislative Umar Saranani also
planned to file a lawsuit against the activists, but added that
he would meet them beforehand for clarification.

"If they cannot reveal the evidence, I'll take legal action,"
he said.