Yogyakarta legislators in hot seat over bribes
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Dozens of activists blocked the entrance gate of Yogyakarta's provincial legislative council (DPRD) on Wednesday in a protest against two corruption scandals that they believe directly implicate local legislators.
The demonstration came as the provincial prosecutor's office plans to summon all 52 legislators for questioning over the scandals linked to a local vice-gubernatorial election/zoo scandal and a construction project.
The protesters grouped in the Yogyakarta Communication Forum for Mosque Youths (FSRMY) and the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students (Kammi) arrived at 9 a.m. at the council compound on Jl. Malioboro.
They immediately formed a barricade at the entrance gate there, forcing several legislators to park their cars on the roads outside.
"Your salary has been raised, but that doesn't stop you from stealing the people's money and even monkey food," a protester shouted, in reference to the zoo scandal.
Some posters carried by the demonstrators read: "DPRD members = munyuk (Javanese for monkey)" and "Free the DPRD building from the rat epidemic".
None of the DPRD members engaged in dialog with the protesters.
A similar protest was also staged on Wednesday by an independent group of lawyers from various universities and non- governmental organizations, who came to the legislature to demand a thorough investigation of the cases.
Members of the legislature have been accused of taking Rp 1 billion (US$97,088) in bribes to ensure that Paku Alam IX be elected as deputy Yogyakarta governor.
The money was reportedly paid by Yogyakarta's Zoo Director Joko Tirtono, who admitted that he did so under pressure from legislators. Paku Alam, who won the election, controls a majority stake in the zoo.
The legislators are also facing accusations of involvement in another bribe case worth Rp 125 million in connection with the construction of the Yogya Expo Center (JEC) building.
The money was reportedly received from state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya while it was attempting to win a bid for the Rp 42.5 billion project.
The Yogyakarta provincial administration contributed Rp 19 billion to the project. Several council members have admitted to receiving money from PT Adhi Karya.
The project was supposed to be completed in time for the ASEAN Tourism Conference which was held there late last month, but the building is far from finished.
Head of the prosecutor's office Hantoro Sumaryo said on Tuesday he would summon all of the members of the legislature soon after he obtained an approval to do so from the Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno.
Under the law, the questioning of provincial legislators can only be done with the approval of the home affairs minister.
Hantoro said prosecutors were gathering evidence to charge suspects in the corruption scandals. Yogyakarta Governor Hamengku Buwono X is reportedly in support of the investigation.
On Wednesday local senior prosecutor Hendar Sutarna, however, said his office had obtained sufficient evidence to back up the accusations. He refused to elaborate further, however.
Senior legislator Djuwarto, chairman of Yogyakarta's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said on Wednesday he was ready to respond to a summons by the prosecutor's office and that he supported the probe to rid the council of corrupt people.
"I have instructed all PDI Perjuangan members to quickly form a team to probe the cases, so the culprits can be dragged into court, even if some of them come from our party," he said.
Djuwarto admitted he had received a Rp 5 million bribe, but said he wanted to keep it as evidence until the investigators asked him for it.
But Hendar urged Djuwarto to be "proactive" by voluntarily surrendering the money to his office.