'President's son involved in Kemayoran project'
'President's son involved in Kemayoran project'
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo confirmed on Friday that
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's son Mohammad Rizky Pratama was
involved in the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$164.7 million) real estate
project to be built on state land in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Bambang, however, dismissed allegations that Pratama, better
known as Tatam, would benefit from his status as part of the
first family to win the government's favor without a tender.
"Being a president's son does not mean that he (Tatam) cannot
do any business. The most important thing is that he did not
violate any regulations or cause any loss to the state," Bambang
told a media conference.
Tatam, the eldest son of the President from her first husband,
the late Air Force pilot Capt. Surindro, is the vice president
commissioner of PT Theda Persada Nusantara, which plans to build
plush apartments, a hypermarket and shopping center on 14
hectares of land belonging to the Kemayoran New Town Authority
(DPPPKK), a state agency that falls under the State Secretary.
Negotiations remain underway on the project, according to
Bambang. The company has claimed to have Rp 2.6 trillion stand-by
funds to finance the construction project, with the concession
lasting 45 years after completion of the project.
Bambang called the conference two days after he refused to
clarify reports of alleged nepotism in the appointment of the
company for the project. Sources said Megawati had phoned him
twice on Thursday evening and Friday morning regarding the
matter.
The House of Representative ad hoc team tasked with
investigating the management of state land in Kemayoran
questioned early this week Tatam's involvement in the
megaproject.
Children of former president Soeharto were granted various
multimillion dollar projects during his 32-year rule, a practice
blamed for encouraging corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN)
in the country.
The reform movement that forced Soeharto to resign in May 1998
was aimed at, among others, eradicating KKN.
In a show of support for the movement, shortly after her
ascension to the presidency, Megawati asked her family members to
shy away from business.
Bambang said he guaranteed no KKN practices were involved in
the deal, saying he was the one who supervised the ongoing
negotiations.
"I assure you there was no nepotism because it was my decision
(to talk with Tatam's company)," he stressed.
The state land in Kemayoran, which formerly served as a
domestic airport, was opened to the public for investments in
1991, after a fairground was built there.
Bambang said that so far no companies applying for investment
there had managed to fulfill criteria set by the government.
"We did not open a tender because this is a program to attract
investment, but the public do know that we want private companies
to manage the land," Bambang said.
According to the article 17 of the Presidential decree
No.18/2000 on procurement of goods and services for state
agencies, the government can appoint or assign its partners for a
project worth less than Rp 50 million.
Contracts for bigger projects should be conducted through open
tenders.
Bambang said that Tatam, along with his business partners,
made the proposal for an investment on the site in January this
year.
Another company, PT Pusaka Ancol, also proposed to manage the
state land.
"We dropped PT Pusaka Ancol because they proposed to use the
ground as stores, our requirement is that the ground should be
used as an international trading site," the director of Kemayoran
new town authority, Abdul Muis, told the same conference.
"We continued the negotiations with PT Theda because they
fulfilled our criteria."
He claimed to have not known that the President's son was
involved until last August when they submitted the organizational
structure of the company as part of the requirements of the
negotiation.
"Tatam's father was my friend, as I served in the Air Force
too," Abdul disclosed.