Public urged to be cautious against Golkar ploy

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."