Private details of KPK aspirants to be laid bare in questioning
Private details of KPK aspirants to be laid bare in questioning
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Reporters could not hide their consternation on Friday when they
heard a question posed by a legislator conducting a field check
on a candidate of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
"Do you have a mistress?" legislator Tunggal L. Tobing of
House Commission II asked aspirant M. Yamin at his residence in
Pejompongan, Central Jakarta.
Yamin, who obviously did not expect to entertain such a
question, replied abruptly, "I have none Pak."
Not convinced with Yamin's answer, Tobing, a legislator from
the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
turned to his wife, Andi Suwarni, who was sitting next to Yamin
in the living room of their modest home.
"As far as I know, he has none. He is an honest person," the
50-year-old woman told the legislator, who was accompanied by
fellow lawmaker Sjaiful Rachman of the United Development Party
(PPP).
Tobing, apparently catching on that Yamin, his wife and the
reporters present were baffled by his arbitrary question,
repeatedly stressed that his question was nothing personal and
that House Commission II in charge of legal and home affairs had
instructed him to raise that particular question.
Yamin, a prosecutor who has been in the civil service since
1965, is one of the 10 candidates vying for a post in the planned
anticorruption body.
Tobing and Sjaiful inquired on Thursday as to Yamin's health
and his relationship with his wife, children and neighbors, as
well as his colleagues.
The 59-year-old man's wealth was also their concern, and
Tobing walked through Yamin's house, which had flooded last year.
Yamin showed the legislator the small house, belonging to the
Attorney General's Office, in which he and his family have been
living since 1985.
After an hour of the scrutiny, Tobing asked the couple for a
tapak dara plant, claiming he had diabetes. The plant is
traditionally known for its medicinal properties to treat the
disease.
The team of legislators that visited Yamin is one of five
teams set up by Commission II to investigate the candidates,
announced commission chairman A. Teras Narang at a press
conference on Thursday.
The teams' investigation reports would be used by the House to
screen the 10 candidates on Monday and Tuesday.
Sjaiful said the questions directed at Yamin were based on the
Commission's guidelines.
"All teams must comply with the guidelines, but perhaps other
legislators would use different ways in questioning the other
candidates," he told reporters.
The four remaining teams visited the residences of Erry Riyana
Hardjapamekas, Marsillam Simanjuntak, Iskandar Sonhadji, Tumpak
Hatorangan Panggabean, Syarifudin Rasul, Taufikurrahman Ruki and
Chairul Imam.
The last two candidates, Momo Kelana and Amien Sunaryadi,
would be paid a visit on Saturday.
The visit appears to be a response to the public's earlier
disappointment in the nomination process run by the government's
KPK selection committee, which was criticized for not being
transparent.
Observers have also repeatedly raised concerns that
legislators would fail to be independent and objective in
selecting the candidates due to political interests.
Recently, the Attorney General's Office released the names of
180 councillors across the country who are suspects in corruption
cases.
Said to be a "super body", the KPK has the authority to
investigate corruption cases and prosecute suspected corrupters,
which currently falls within the separate jurisdictions of the
police and prosecutors.
The KPK, the establishment of which has been postponed several
times since 1999, also has the power to take over corruption
cases from police and prosecutors.
After the screening process, the House is to select five of
the 10 candidates to form the KPK executive board. The five
executive board members are to be inaugurated by the President on
Dec. 27.