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.