PDI Perjuangan councillor accused of violating oath

PDI Perjuangan councillor accused of violating oath

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A councillor and activist accused councillor Agung Imam
Sumanto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) on Friday of violating the councillors' oath by
receiving donations worth Rp 1.1 billion from businessmen.

"He violated the oath that bans councillors from receiving
money," councillor Ugiek Soegihardjo of PDI Perjuangan told
reporters at the City Council building.

However, Ugiek acknowledged that there was no specific
sanction for a councillor who had allegedly violated the oath.

"It depends on the party whether or not to penalize him. It's
like a moral sanction," he said.

Councillor Agung admitted on Thursday to have received the
money from several businessmen who were sympathetic to the
victims of the July 27 tragedy.

Agung, who is also chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction at
the council, said the Rp 1.1 billion, which was then added to Rp
500 million from the party, was then distributed to 124 victims
of the incident last September.

Separately, secretary of the Jakarta Study Center (PPJ) Ganda
Hutabarat noted that Agung might also have violated Law No.
4/1999 on the People's Consultative Assembly, the House of
Representatives and the City Council.

"Besides violating his oath, he might also have broken the
law," Ganda said on Thursday.

But the oath and the law, which are not yet supported by a
government regulation, did not state the amount of money that
councillors were banned from receiving.

"So the sanction is really a moral one," he said.

But, Ganda said, if the money were received by a political
party, it would have violated Law No. 2/1999 on political
parties, which bans them from receiving more than Rp 15 million
from an individual or Rp 50 million from a company.

He said a political party could be banned from participating
in the general election if found to have violated the law.

Councillor Agung claimed earlier that the money given to the
victims was in accordance with his party's policy and had been
reported to the party's executives.

"It's their fault if they were not aware of the money," Agung
said.

But Ugiek denied that giving money was party policy, saying
that he had not heard about it.

Ugiek expressed disappointment that the incident was already
considered an open-and-shut case by the PDI Perjuangan faction.

"I was told by Agung that it was over since he had explained
it to journalists," he said.

It was earlier reported that the money had come from city
Governor Sutiyoso who was then Jakarta military commander when
the tragedy occurred on July 27, 1996.

At least five people were killed, hundreds injured and many
went missing after the attack on the party's headquarters on Jl.
Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.

Agung reportedly received the money from a businessman as a
commission, as the businessman had been appointed by the city
administration to carry out a project worth billions of rupiah.

But Agung denied that the money was from Sutiyoso or from the
businessman who won the project.

Sutiyoso, who is implicated in the attack on the party's
headquarters, has also denied giving the money as compensation to
the incident victims.

But he earlier admitted to hearing that the Indonesian
Military (TNI) had made a peace deal with the victims.

Sutiyoso was also nominated by PDI Perjuangan chairwoman
Megawati Soekarnoputri as a candidate in the next gubernatorial
election.