'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.