Uproar over gold-plated rings for former House members

JAKARTA (JP): Several active and former legislators expressed yesterday dismay over the disclosure that the souvenir rings they received from the House of Representatives were only gold-plated.

The legislators received the token of the House's appreciation earlier this month at the end of their 1992-1997 term. The House's internal affairs bureau allocated a Rp 400,000 (US$114) budget to present each of the 500 House members a 10 gram, 23- carat gold ring.

One of the legislators reportedly had the ring assayed and was told it was only a 8.9 gram gold-plated ring. Its approximate value was less than Rp100,000, the legislator was told.

The report prompted other legislators to have their rings assayed, Antara reported yesterday.

Former legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Popo Soenadar Harun, for instance, was given a 10 gram ring of only 14-carat. Another PDI legislator, Laksmiari Priyonggo, received a 9.8 gram, 18-carat ring.

Legislator Budi Hardjono of the PDI faction called for a thorough investigation into the possible fraud.

"If there's really a mistake, (the House) should take action," he said. "If the people's representatives can be had like this, imagine what could happen to ordinary people."

A former 1992-1997 legislator, A.A. Oka Mahendra from Golkar, agreed. "If they can lie to the people's representatives, they can lie to the people," he said.

"What I am protesting is not that I didn't get a gold ring, but the deceit," said Popo who returned his ring to the House's internal affairs bureau.

Yusuf Syakir of the United Development Party (PPP) said he had not yet taken his souvenir from the bureau, but regretted the reported forgery. "Now I don't know whether to pick it up or not," he said. "The House's secretary-general should investigate the case."

House secretary-general Afif Ma'roef immediately dismissed speculation of corruption in the procurement of the rings by the House's internal affairs bureau.

He said the quality of the rings could have been eroded in the process of shaping and carving the rings with the House logo.

"However, the recipients can lodge their complaints with me or the jeweler shop if the difference is more than one gram," Afif was quoted by Antara as saying.

He suggested the assayers could have intentionally given an inaccurate assay for their own interests. "Not that I'm suspecting the jewelry stores where the legislators had their rings assayed," he said.

"I'm also a former (1992-1997) legislator and received a ring. (You) can have it checked," he said.

He said that several other legislators had praised him because the rings were better than those presented five years ago to the 1987-1992 House legislators.

"If anybody wants to complain, please do," he said, adding that the jeweler chosen in the procurement was a big store based in Surabaya, East Java.

"I chose that store because of the good quality of its products. Rather than buying the rings in Thailand, I thought it'd be better to buy them here," he said. (swe)