Mega lives in house belonging to state bank

Mega lives in house belonging to state bank

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For almost three years, President Megawati Soekarnoputri has
lived in a house that cannot be categorized as an official
residence.

A State Secretariat official confirmed on Friday that the
house Megawati resides in on Jl. Teuku Umar No. 27 in the plush
Central Jakarta area of Menteng belongs to state-owned Bank
Mandiri.

The government is processing the transfer of the house's title
to the state, said the deputy to state secretary for
administrative and asset affairs, Rildo Ananda Anwar.

"A team is assessing the amount that should be paid to Bank
Mandiri for the transfer of the house, but basically the bank has
agreed to transfer it to the state," Rildo told The Jakarta Post
and the Koran tempo daily.

A letter from Bank Mandiri dated Nov. 12, 2002 to the State
Secretariat stated that the bank had agreed to transfer the house
and that it expected the government to pay the consideration
within one year.

The letter was a response to the State Secretariat's request
for the transfer of ownership of the house dated Nov. 26, 2001.

"We have yet to determine the status of the house as it was
lent to Megawati when she was vice president," Rildo said.

In early 2000, Megawati moved to her current residence as the
official vice presidential residence on Jl. Diponegoro was being
renovated.

Currently, Megawati lives at Jl. Teuku Umar No. 27 and No. 29.
This actually belongs to the State Secretariat, and was used by
the Golkar Party during former president Soeharto's tenure.

"In reality, we never had an official presidential residence,"
Rildo said.

Megawati has come under the media spotlight over the past week
for her reported ownership of a villa in Sentul, Bogor, and the
extension of her house at Jl. Teuku Umar No. 33.

Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas said on Wednesday that he
knew nothing about the villa nor the house extension.

Presidential deputy secretary of household affairs Bambang
Irawan said on Friday that it was Megawati's family, not the
state, who had rented the house at Jl. Teuku Umar No. 33.

"I just helped decorate the house, but it was the President's
family that signed the rental agreement," Bambang said.

The local media has reported that Megawati's family rented the
house for three years for Rp 3.5 billion (US$400,000).

Rildo also said that he knew nothing about the status of No.
33 and that so far the presidential secretariat had not informed
him of the renovation of No. 29, which actually belonged to the
state.