Megawati adds a new mansion to her collection

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Local media linked on Monday President Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose government claims to be struggling to eradicate poverty and rampant corruption, to a luxury house in Sentul, West Java, some 50 kilometers south of here.

Everybody in Babakan Madang village in Sentul knows where the villa is, and says it belongs to the President as she has been spotted several times visiting the building recently.

The newly completed Mediterranean-style house, located in the Griya Dharma Wulan convention and sports complex in the Babakan Madang district of Bogor, has five main bedrooms, a swimming pool and sits on about 6,000 square meters of land.

Although it is not clear under whose name the house's ownership papers are registered, people around the housing complex say the house belongs to the President.

Babakan Madang village council speaker Iwan Gunawan told The Jakarta Post and Koran Tempo over the weekend that the President had visited the area several times since early 2000, when Megawati was still the vice president.

"The construction of the house began around that time, but it was only after she became President that the building work was speeded up," Iwan said during an interview in his office, located about 300 meters from the house.

"Since the house was completed, we have often seen the presidential security people in the area. But the visits are always made without prior notice to the local authorities here," Iwan said.

To get to the house, you must pass through the front gate of the convention and sports complex, which houses sports facilities, a clubhouse and a hall, all owned and operated by the Dharma Wulan Foundation.

An official of the foundation, Mona, said a senior aide to the President, Kwik Kian Gie, who is the state minister for national development planning, was among the foundation's donors. She added that Kwik also owned a home near the complex.

"Only recently, we saw the President visiting the villa," Mona said on Friday.

To enter the house, you must pass through a large wooden gate. From the gate, you can see a large yard and a series of four or five buildings interconnected to each other, with red roofs and off-white Mediterranean-style pillars.

A member of the engineering staff at the convention and sports complex confirmed on Friday that the villa belonged to Megawati.

"I have to check the entire house because tomorrow (Saturday) the President will come and visit, maybe to arrange the furniture and other things," he said.

Megawati owns at least three other houses: one in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, one in Gunung Geulis, Bogor, and the other in Batu Tulis, also in Bogor.

The house in Batu Tulis belonged to Megawati's father Sukarno, the founding president of Indonesia. After Soeharto came to power his New Order regime took over ownership of the house, and it was not until Abdurrahman Wahid's administration that the house was returned to the Sukarno family in 2000.

Megawati's official residence is on Jl. Teuku Umar in Central Jakarta.

Of all her houses, only the one in Kebagusan was listed on her wealth declaration to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN).

According to some sources, the house in Gunung Geulis was not reported to the KPKPN as it is not under Megawati's name.

Neither the President nor her husband were available for comment.

A relative and confidante of Megawati, Agnita Singadikane Irsal, told the Post on Saturday that she had heard about Megawati's house in Sentul, but did not know much about it.

"If the house was not on the KPKPN declaration, maybe it's because it is not under the President's name. Another possibility is that maybe Megawati officially acquired the house after she submitted her declaration to the KPKPN," Agnita said.

Minister Kwik insisted on Monday that the villa belonged to his family and that Megawati had nothing to do with the complex.

"This is private property. It is better not to discuss these things, and besides, the whole complex belongs to my family and none of the villas have ever been used by the President," he asserted.

"Megawati has never stayed over night in that place. She just visits the place once a while to see the plants around the complex," Kwik added.

Separately, a presidential staffer said that the President went to the villa on Saturday along with noted businessman Bob Sadino, who is an old friend of Megawati's.

"The President was showing her new house to Bob Sadino," the staffer, who requested anonymity, said on Monday.

He said Megawati had stayed overnight in Gunung Geulis on Friday, despite the fact that she had been expected to turn up for a purification ceremony in Bali.