Rizal, Djody walk out of Sukhoi inquiry

Rizal, Djody walk out of Sukhoi inquiry

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chairman Rizal Ramli and
businessman Setiawan Djody walked out on Monday of a hearing on
the controversial purchase of Russia's Sukhoi warplanes in
protest over the decision of a House of Representatives (DPR)
inquiry committee to close public access to the meeting.

Committee members were split in responding to the
unanticipated maneuver, simply reflecting their different
interests over the Sukhoi deal.

Deputy committee chairman Effendi Choirie of the National
Awakening Party (PKB) faction and Rizal Djalil of the Reform
faction regretted the decision and said that such a hearing in
the House must be open to the public.

However, committee chairman Ibrahim Ambong and other members
of the 15-strong committee stated that the decision to close the
hearing to the public was in line with the House standing orders.

They said that a closed hearing was designed to enforce the
principle of presumption of innocence.

The Golkar, PKB and Reform factions demanded that the hearing
be made open to the public, but the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the Indonesian Military
(TNI)/National Police, and the Indonesian Nationhood Unity (KKI)
factions wanted to make it closed.

"Based on the House's standing orders, those who ignore the
summons of the House could be jailed for up to one year for
contempt of the legislature," said Ambong, who had just returned
from a foreign trip with President Megawati Soekarnoputri to
Asian countries.

Ambong said, however, that the committee would once again
invite Rizal and Djody to appear before the legislature. He said
he would report them to the police should they ignore the second
summons.

Responding to the fact that a similar inquiry into the
management of Bung Karno sports complex was open to the public,
Ambong said that the substance of the cases was different.

Rizal said separately that he was asked to appear at the House
to give an explanation concerning the function and the role of
Bulog and to comment on the high-profile purchase of Russian
warplanes involving Bulog.

He said he hoped his explanation could be received by the
public. "I would have done something else had the House mentioned
in the invitation that it was a closed-door hearing," Rizal
added.

Setiawan Djody, who chairs Indonesia-Russia trade committee at
the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), added
that his appearance at the House was to provide an explanation
about trade between Indonesia and Russia and to comment on the
US$192.6 million purchase deal.

Rizal and Djody agreed that the move of legislators was a
betrayal of the reform movement.

The House's defense commission set up a committee of inquiry
into the Sukhoi purchase two weeks ago to investigate
irregularities in the purchase of four Sukhoi jet fighters and
two assault helicopters.

Instead of being handled by the minister of defense, the deal
was signed in by Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M.S.
Soewandi and an official from Russia's Rosoboronexport.

Legislators said that Rini Soewandi's role in the purchase was
a violation of defense law while the purchase itself was a
violation of budgetary law.

On several occasions, Rini has denied any wrongdoing and has
said that the Sukhoi deal was monumental because it opened an
alternative market in east Europe for Indonesian commodities.

But Rizal Ramli said that the so-called "counter purchase" was
only a ploy which disadvantaged the people. According to Rizal, a
counter purchase would not create a burden on the state budget.

The inquiry committee was expected on Tuesday to hear an
explanation from businessmen Anton Sulaiman, Beni Sutrisno,
Manimaren Sinivasan, and an official from the National Economy
Development Agency (BPEN), Dian Maulida.