Only six ministers have submitted wealth reports

Only six ministers have submitted wealth reports

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Only six of the 34 United Indonesia Cabinet members have
submitted wealth reports to the Corruption Eradication Commission
(KPK) as of Monday afternoon, three days after the deadline set
by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The wealth reports of Coordinating Minister for Economic
Affairs Aburizal Bakrie and Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Fahmi Idris reached the anticorruption body on
Friday evening. On Monday, Minister of Public Works Djoko
Kirmanto and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin
went to the commission office to hand in their wealth reports.

KPK deputy chairman Sjahruddin Rasul said the commission also
received on Monday the wealth report of State Minister of Women's
Empowerment Meutia Hatta and State Minister of Cooperatives and
Small and Medium Enterprises Suryadharma Ali.

Cabinet ministers have until Nov. 21 to declare their wealth
in accordance with the law, but Susilo, who declared the fight
against corruption as one of his top priorities, set an Oct. 29
deadline for the submission of the reports.

Sjahruddin said his office was currently examining the wealth
reports of the five ministers.

"We hope we will finish by next week," he said, adding that
the commission would publicly announce the amount of assets held
by each minister.

The commission will only investigate those reports of state
officials that irregularities.

Asked why he failed to meet the president's deadline, Djoko
said he found it difficult complete, particularly the item on
providing property title.

"It's not an easy job. I must find all the certificates for
the properties that I've bought, some of them many years ago, to
complete the forms," he told reporters, while refusing to answer
questions about his wealth.

Hamid, who went to the KPK office 30 minutes after Djoko, said
he encountered similar difficulties.

Unlike Djoko, Hamid had no hesitation about revealing his
assets, when asked. He said he had a house in Palem Indah housing
complex in East Jakarta and another one in the housing complex
for the University of Hasanuddin lecturers in Makassar.

He also said he owned a second-hand Toyota Altis, which he
bought from a friend for some Rp 180 million (US$19,780), and a
Toyota Kijang van that his wife was driving. He also had US$3,000
in a bank account at Citibank and "less than Rp 100 million" in
an account at state bank BNI.

Hamid acknowledged he did not know the exact amount of his
wealth as he could not estimate the prices of his home
appliances, such as the television and refrigerator.

Also on Monday, the General Elections Commission (KPU)
submitted around 12,000 wealth reports belonging to legislators
from all over the country, which were given to the KPU before
they were declared eligible to run in the April legislative
election.

The KPK will not publicly announce the wealth reports of the
legislative members, as they are not authorized to do so. The
public, however, can get access to the reports from the state
document agency.