'Rp 400m in Bulog fund used for press coverage'
'Rp 400m in Bulog fund used for press coverage'
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An advisor at the office of the Vice President said on Tuesday
that he had asked for Rp 400 million to produce favorable media
reports for then president BJ Habibie.
La Ode Kamaluddin, who is also a member of the People's
Consultative Assembly's interest group faction, denied that the
money, disbursed by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), was spent
on the campaign for former president B.J. Habibie, who eventually
lost in the 1999 election.
La Ode was testifying at the trial of Bulog former chief,
Rahardi Ramelan, who is accused of misusing Rp 62.9 billion of
Bulog's funds. The trial was held at South Jakarta District
Court.
La Ode said, however, that he had approved a proposal from a
group called Sabang-Merauke Development Forum for Objective
Coverage, which was planning to organize a democracy development
program.
"I just wanted to help my friends (in the forum) to obtain
funding, so I handed over the proposal to Pak Khalid in September
1999. Later in October, he gave me several checks," he said,
referring to former inspector general of the ministry of industry
and trade Khalid Ghazali.
At the previous hearing, Kholid said La Ode had submitted a
proposal asking for Rp 600 million for the program. However,
Bulog approved only Rp 400 million for it.
According to the proposal signed by La Ode, the money was
needed to pay 25 electronics and print media for 14 consecutive
days of coverage to counter unfavorable reports on Habibie's
administration.
La Ode said Habibie knew nothing about the proposal. He also
said he did not know where the money came from.
"I have no idea about who was the source of the money as I
didn't see Bulog's name on the checks," he said, adding that he
obtained four checks from Khalid worth Rp 100 million each.
One of the checks went to Ita Yulia Lestari, the treasurer of
the Sabang-Merauke Discussion Forum, and the other Rp 300 million
was given to a member of the forum, said La Ode.
When asked whether the forum had channeled the funds to the
media, La Ode replied, "The forum was supposed to supply articles
to the media, and the money was supposed to be given to the
writers, but we lacked writers so we converted the program into
discussions. It was only a public relations attempt."
La Ode, who has known Rahardi since 1992, said that he rarely
met Rahardi or Habibie. He said he had never met Rahardi to talk
about the proposal despite Khalid's earlier testimony that he
brought La Ode to meet Rahardi.
But Rahardi said in response to La Ode's testimony that he and
La Ode had a relatively close relationship as they both work for
the Habibie center, a research center established by Habibie.
"Before he handed over the proposal, Pak Habibie called me,
telling me about La Ode, who was about to visit me," he said.
Many believe that the money was used to finance Golkar party's
campaign in the 1999 election. Golkar had named Habibie for its
presidential candidate.