More protests being staged against Haryanto
More protests being staged against Haryanto
JAKARTA (JP): Three groups held separate demonstrations in Jakarta yesterday over the government's disclosure that Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto is under investigation for alleged misconduct.
Forty students from the Association of Moslem Students and the Communication Forum for Islamic University Students filed petitions at the Attorney General's Office demanding a thorough investigations into the allegations.
"We support clean government," read one of the banners unfurled during the brief protest.
Attorney General spokesman Pontas Pasaribu said the government would look into the allegations but would not form a special investigation team.
Another demonstration outside the Ministry of Transportation on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, was dispersed by police.
The 15 protesters distributed statements by Pijar Indonesia (Center for Information and Action Network for Reform) and the Center for Information and Education on Human Rights (PIPHAM).
Pijar's statement called for Haryanto's resignation and transparency in relation to the wealth of government officials and their families.
PIPHAM demanded an anti-corruption law which includes the public disclosure of officials' wealth, "from the President to the heads of sub-districts." Disclosure of the wealth of official's families should also be mandatory, the group said.
Fosko 66, a group of former student activists, sent a statement saying that Haryanto should resign pending an official investigation.
Haryanto visited Vice President Try Sutrisno yesterday at the latter's official residence on Jl. Diponegoro, their third meeting over the affair.
"We held a long discussion. I gave him everything down to the smallest details," Haryanto told reporters later. "He asked me to wait. I will be summoned by the President."
Try has been asked by President Soeharto to follow up on a series of reports filed by Inspector General for Development Kentot Harseno listing instances of alleged misconduct -- including nepotism, favoritism and financial mismanagement -- on the part of Haryanto since he took charge of the Ministry of Transportation in 1993.
Copies of Harseno's reports, which are classified government documents, were leaked to the media last week.
The allegations against Haryanto, as reported by the press, include the removal of Anwar Supriyadi as president of state railway company Perumka as a result of a personal disliking.
Anwar, a highly-respected official, had apparently been questioning the use of Perumka funds for the construction of Haryanto's personal residence in Bandung, according to the report.
Also on the list, the alleged use of US$244,000 of funds belonging to national flag carrier Garuda by Haryanto's wife during a trip to Europe, and the use of Rp 2.8 billion ($1.2 million) to pay for a racing car and a race driving course for his son, Kikik, in the United States.
The reports, based on allegations by the ministry's top echelon, claimed that the minister rarely used Garuda when traveling overseas, yet the carrier was expected to pick up the tab for his trips.
All state companies under the ministry are required to pay special levies which are used to pay for the minister's overseas trips, according to press reports.
Political analyst Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia said yesterday that the allegations are particularly detrimental to the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) and its chairman, B.J. Habibie, who is also state minister of research and technology.
Haryanto sits on the ICMI board.
"Morally, Habibie bears some responsibility, as he brought Haryanto into the cabinet," Arbi said.
Arbi said that whoever leaked the documents to the public had intended to weaken ICMI.
Asked whether such political rivalry would hurt the public, Arbi said "we can just watch and enjoy" the highlighting of the misuse of public funds.
Amien Rais of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, and a member of ICMI board, agreed that the affair is damaging ICMI and Habibie.
"Some groups do not like Habibie's stress on reform and prefer the status quo," Amien said
The "political game is highly unfair because other corruptors have walked away unscathed," he said.
The anti-Habibie groups are using the momentum of the removal of former minister of trade Satrio J.B. Joedono earlier this month to target Haryanto and possibly to remove Habibie, Amien said.
"But I am convinced that the President will not follow the wishes of these wild groups just like that," he said without identifying anyone in particular. (imn/pwn/har/01/swe/anr)