'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.