Public urged to be cautious against Golkar ploy

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung's detention by the Attorney General's Office fails to portray the image of the rule of law long sought in Indonesia through its reform movement, political observers warn.

Several bizarre developments shadowing the case, they say, suggest that the Golkar Party still may be able to rescue itself and its chairman Akbar from the brink of political catastrophe.

"There are signs that the legal process is following the direction that Golkar wants," Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, said on Sunday.

Another political expert, J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that the detention was a way for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) to sacrifice Akbar -- but not Golkar, since it would remain a strategic partner in the future.

Following his third round of questioning on Thursday, the Attorney General's Office detained Akbar, who has been declared a suspect in the misuse of Rp 40 billion in funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), when he was minister/state secretary during former president B.J. Habibie era in 1999.

Arbi based his argument on the delay of the establishment of a House of Representatives' special inquiry committee (Pansus) into the scandal.

All the 10 House factions agreed on Friday to delay the plan to form the inquiry committee until March 18. This delay could seriously hinder the effort to seek justice against Akbar.

Another unexplained development came when the Attorney General's Office announced on Saturday that one of the suspects in the case, Winfried Simatupang, had returned Rp 32.5 billion of the allegedly stolen funds just several days earlier.

"By making the announcement, the public is now expected to think that no corrupt activity took place, thereby forcing the Attorney General's Office to free the suspects, including Akbar -- or at least reduce the charges against them," he speculated.

According to Arbi, the detention of Akbar was still under Golkar's grand scenario in the case.

"From the beginning, Golkar has repeatedly rejected demands for the establishment of Pansus, and prefers to settle the case through legal proceedings," he said.

Golkar, he added, may be afraid that the political procedure through Pansus would open up even more scandals committed by Akbar and the party.

Meanwhile, the legal procedure might be viewed as a safe journey, since it is often not transparent, and thus susceptible to political intervention.

At the same time, Kristiadi said that PDI Perjuangan was in a dilemma: on the one hand, there was mounting public pressure to prosecute Akbar, on the other, PDI Perjuangan feared that Golkar might strike back.

PDI Perjuangan holds a decisive advantage in determining whether the Pansus can be set up or not, as it constitutes the biggest faction in the House with 153 seats -- compared with Golkar's 120.

If PDI Perjuangan decided not to establish the Pansus, Golkar and Akbar would be saved from further political backlash.

"Therefore, President Megawati has apparently decided to uphold legal procedure, pushing the Attorney General's Office to investigate Akbar," Kristiadi said.

According to Alfitra Salam, a political researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Golkar would remain a potential political partner for PDI Perjuangan, since it shared the same nationalist platform.

"Besides, PDI Perjuangan sees that Golkar may be able to shake up the government in short term, for example, by disclosing alleged corruption cases by top members of PDI Perjuangan," he said, as quoted by Antara.

Golkar top executive and State Minister of Information and Communication Syamsul Mu'arif earlier admitted that there were two parties which did not use Bulog funds -- namely the People's Democratic Party (PRD), and Muslim-based the Justice Party.

Alfitra demanded that state prosecutors investigate and pursue the truth behind the flow of funds in order to bring clarity to the case.

"It is a fact that parts of the funds were not used to distribute basic commodities, as the suspects had previously revealed," he said. So,"should Golkar receive part of the funds during the investigation -- that means the party is deeply involved in the corruption case."