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.