|
|
|
  |
| AsiaViews, Edition: 36/VI/November/2009 |
|
| The political view from Klewer market |
| President Yudhoyono is apparently determined not to intervene in the ongoing controversial legal process against two KPK leaders. will The recommendations of the Team of Eight be shelved? |
COORDINATING Minster for Political, Legal & Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto knows how to gauge the mood of the Indonesian people. In order to get the public’s reaction to the criminalization of two leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, he called Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi on Wednesday last week. “I asked him to check the situation in a number of provinces,” Djoko told Tempo.
Gamawan moved quickly. Last weekend he contacted governors in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan. These provincial leaders, according to Gamawan, reported that the public was not paying much attention to the dispute between the KPK and the police. “There were some demonstrations, but not too many and they were small,” he said. “People in the provinces are relaxed, more concerned on whether or not fertilizer will be available on the market.”
After receiving these reports, Djoko felt more confident. “Take a look at the markets in Kramat Jati, (East Jakarta), Klewer (Solo) and Beringharjo (Jogjakarta). That is the real sector, where millions of our people are found. Have they been affected by this case?” he asked rhetorically.
On Monday this week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) will announce his response to the recommendations of the so-called Team of Eight over the confusion over the Bibit and Chandra case. The Team of Eight is a team formed by the President to verify the case against the two indicted KPK leaders. After interviewing a number of sources, the team concluded that the two were indeed victims of criminalization.
The team recommended that the President intervene in the case by choosing from a number of alternative legal procedures. These alternatives include asking the police to issue a cessation of investigation order (SP3), asking the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to issue a letter halting their prosecution (SKPP), and asking the Attorney General to drop the case.
Djoko was reluctant to comment on how the President will respond to the recommendation of the Team of Eight. “Just wait until Monday,” he said. This former Commander in Chief of the Indonesian Military, however, gave some clues. “The President will not break the law or violate the Constitution,” he said. Djoko said that from the outset—even at his first press conference when he reacted to the case—the President stressed that he would not intervene in the legal process.
At the end of last week, presidential spokesman Julian Pasha explained more forcefully. “The President’s position is clear enough: he is not in a position to interfere in the legal process,” said Julian. In other words, the Team of Eight’s recommendations would be ignored.
The President’s position could have been predicted as early as Wednesday last week. After lunch, the President held a limited cabinet meeting at the State Palace. The agenda was specific: to discuss the recommendations of the Team of Eight. National Police Chief, General Bambang Hendarso Danuri, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji and Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, Foreign Affairs Minister, Marty Natalegawa and Justice & Human Rights Minister, Patrialis Akbar, attended the meeting. Two senior ministers, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, Sutanto, were also present.
The President began the meeting by bringing up the wide coverage of the issue by the media and the Internet, urging him to immediately take a position on the Team of Eight’s recommendations. Although his words were emphatic, Yudhoyono appeared to be calm and unemotional. “We cannot have me, the President be pushed and forced into making a decision that is not part of my authority. If that happens, it means that I will have violated the law,” he said.
The President then asked those present to give their views and suggestions. Bambang Hendarso and Hendarman spoke first, followed by cabinet ministers. They commented on legal and political risks regarding each recommendation made by the Team of Eight. Last week, Djoko Suyanto told senior editors that intervening in the legal process is seen as risky and could lead to impeachment. “If the President breaks the law, there are risks,” he said.
A Tempo source explained that during the three-hour meeting, Yudhoyono repeatedly said he would respect the legal process. “If they (Bibit-Chandra) are innocent, they let them prove it,” said a source, repeating the President’s statement.
***
THE mood was visibly different on Tuesday, a day before the President held the meeting. The Team of Eight members sat calmly in a meeting room at the Merdeka Palace.
After working night and day for two whole weeks, they had carried out its mandate. The result of their work—in the form of a 31-page report—had just been submitted to the President by the team’s leader, Adnan Buyung Nasution.
“At that time we sort of guessed what the President’s reaction would be,” said one team member, Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor from the University of Indonesia, last week. The week before, news had spread that the President was rather upset with the Team of Eight. Reportedly, he disapproved of the team holding a press conference when their report had not even reached the Palace. Some members of the team were unnerved by the President’s reaction to their public statement.
However, their fears turned out to be unfounded. The tension quickly dissolved. When they were asked to present their work, Adnan Buyung first apologized for any misunderstanding between them. “If there were any improper utterances or actions in our work as a team, it might have been caused by the cultural differences among us,” this senior advocate and member of the Presidential Advisory Board politely explained.
Yudhoyono nodded and smiled. There was no sign of disapproval in his body language. “He appeared cheerful, and so did we,” said Buyung afterwards.
Aided by a slide presentation on the projection screen, Buyung explained each one of their findings. Occasionally President Yudhoyono would point to a chart or a graphic on the screen which had not been fully explained, using a red laser pointer. The President, who is also Chairman of the Democrat Party board, asked about the origins of the Bibit-Chandra case and the testimony of former KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar.
“The President was very attentive. He wanted to know all the details,” said Anies Baswedan, Paramadina University rector, who was the team’s spokesman. During another section of the presentation, SBY drew attention to the timeline of developments in the Bibit-Chandra case, which was passed back and forth several times between the AGO and the police. “What caused this?” asked Yudhoyono, curiously.
For about an hour, Buyung, occasionally assisted by Anies, explained why the team concluded that the police investigation of the two suspended KPK leaders needed to be halted. “Initially it was all in order, but later it was evident that the police exceeded their authority by forcing suspicions on them,” said Buyung, citing the series of peculiar incidents discovered by the Team of Eight. The team’s deputy leader, Police Major-General (ret) Koesparmono Irsan, cut in, saying, “Initially, we believed that the police did not manipulate things, but now there are doubts.”
The President nodded, seemingly agreeing to all of the explanations. Seated next to him, Minister Djoko, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi and spokesman Dino Pati Djalal, dutifully took notes.
After Buyung completed his presentation, the President invited other members of the Team of Eight to speak. Komaruddin Hidayat, Amir Syamsuddin, and Hikmahanto took turns giving their comments. Essentially, they reinforced the team’s conclusions and recommendations. “Our opinions were indeed unanimous and united,” said Anies Baswedan, who was met by Tempo last week. He said that when they started working, each member of the team began with their own assumptions and opinions. “However, at the end of it, we were brought together by the clarity of the facts and data in this case.”
Then came the President’s turn to convey his response. “This is a momentous occasion for legal reform in our country,” he said. He promised that he would eradicate corruption at all costs, and at all risks.
Those present at the meeting were silent when the President made his bold statement. “Tomorrow I will summon the National Police Chief and the Attorney General, and give them two to three days to study this report,” he added.
At the end of the meeting, Djoko Suyanto asked if the report of the team could be shared with the press. “Go ahead,” the President quickly replied. “We want to apply good governance and transparency, and this report is not a state secret.” When asked last week about his part in the meeting, Djoko was ambiguous. “Ah, why would I want to have anything to do with it,” he said.
Following the meeting, the team members spoke to reporters waiting for them at the Palace press room. “I feel relieved,” said Buyung.
***
DJOKO Suyanto was twice called by the President to discuss the developments in the Bibit-Chandra case since the report of the Team of Eight was conveyed to the President. The first was when he was asked to come to his personal residence at Cikeas, Bogor, on Monday last week.
At that time Yudhoyono had just returned from the Asia Pacific Economic (APEC) Forum in Singapore. “That meeting was more of an update. I reported what happened over the previous week, when he was out of the country,” said Djoko, at his office on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta. He said the President was following all the pros and cons of the issue among the public. “They are still being given the chance to demonstrate. They are allowed to express their views,” said Djoko.
The recommendations of the Team of Eight, according to Djoko, can be divided into two categories: legal and government administrative matters. “Issuing a letter halting an investigation, or a decree to stop prosecution, or closing a case, is not in the President’s jurisdiction,” said Djoko.
The same applied to the Team of Eight’s recommendations of settling a number of other cases, including the suspected bribery on the part of PT Masaro Radiokom to the House of Representatives (DPR), suspected violation of the law by the chief of the Police Crime Investigation Unit, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, and the suspected corruption in the procurement of the Integrated Radio Communication System at the Forestry Department.
The recommendations which fall under the authority of the executive branch, according to Djoko, were issues of institutional reform, governance audits of law enforcement institutions, and the eradication of “court case backroom dealers.” “Work has begun on all of those things,” he said.
Ultimately, it appears that the drama of the house lizard versus the crocodile—an analogy used to describe the dispute between the KPK and the police—will end in court. However, besides determining the guilt or innocence of Bibit and Chandra, it looks like the court case will provide the momentum to amend and curtail the authority of the KPK.
On several occasions the President has indeed lamented the tendency of the KPK to act as a super-body. However, Djoko Suyanto disagreed that the Bibit-Chandra case constituted a warning from the President to teach the KPK a lesson. Yet he agreed that the KPK needed some improvement. As Djoko said, “This is a warning for all state institutions, that no matter how independent they are, they still have to be accountable to the public.” |
|
| By AZ, Wahyu Dhyatmika, Oktamandjaya Wiguna |
|
| Tempo, No. 13/X/24-30 November 2009 |
|
|
Your Letters | 
About Us | 
Contact Us 
