Sutiyoso reports activist over bribe allegation

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Governor Sutiyoso reported to police on Tuesday that the chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), Azas Tigor Nainggolan, had slandered him by accusing the governor of bribing city councillors.

Tigor, he said, "has often slandered me ... I could not stand it any longer, so I decided to report him to the police today," Sutiyoso told reporters at the City Hall.

He reiterated that he never gave Rp 3 billion (US$300,000) to ensure that 85 city councillors would accept his 2001 city budget accountability speech next week.

Such lobbying, he said, would only serve to spoil his tenure, which is due to end in October of this year.

Tigor, in turn, challenged the governor on Tuesday to prove that he had defamed him.

Regarding the complaint, he said, "I'm ready -- prove that I have committed slander or defamation."

He said that he had first read a report from an evening daily that City Council chairman Edy Waluyo had received an offer from someone in the city administration, who would give the councillors money if they accepted Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

Tigor then contacted some councillors, who confirmed the offer but said that, in the end, they rejected it. "I couldn't mention the names of the councillors; they are my sources," he added.

While denying that he had bribed the councillors, Sutiyoso admitted on Monday that there were additional fees allocated for councillors.

The money, he said, was taken from the budget surplus from the city vehicle tax revenue. He claimed that there were no illegalities involved, since such a move was stipulated in the city bylaw.

The gift, however, triggered suspicions of bribery, as it was reportedly disbursed last week, just two weeks before Sutiyoso was to deliver his accountability speech.

A high-ranking city official had earlier complained that city councillors had often threatened to reject Sutiyoso's speech, although they had received Rp 30 million each.

Several city councillors denied on Monday that they had received the bribe.

However, one of the councillors, Mukhayar R.M. of the Justice Party, revealed that he and his party's allies had returned such bribes offered before Sutiyoso presented his accountability speech two years ago.

City Spokesman Muhayat admitted on Tuesday that the administration gave Rp 10 million each to the councillors after the 2000 city budget accountability speech.

"But it was legal. It was taken from the surplus target of the city revenue," Muhayat said.

Sutiyoso's year 2000 speech was at one point rejected, but was then accepted by the council after the governor revised his speech a month later.