Will Muchdi’s Move to PPP Spell an End to Government Coalition?

This is an unedited version of this article which appears in the Jakarta Globe on April 23, 2011. My original story was more than 1000 words and the edited version came out less than 600.

When Muchdi Purwoprandjono announced he was leaving the Great Indonesia Movement, a nationalist-based political party he helped create and decided to move to the Islam-based United Development Party in February many were left baffled in disbelief.

Muchdi have survived countless allegations namely being dubbed responsible for the widespread riots that followed the fall of former president Suharto in 1998 during his time as an Army commander to masterminding the murder of prominent human rights advocate Munir Said Thalib in 2004.

With so much controversy surrounding the retired two-star general, it became natural that a lot of people inside the Islam party, also known as the PPP began questioning his true motive to switch side.

Among the rumors circulating inside the PPP is that he wants to chair the PPP in a bid to get the party out of the coalition with the ruling Democratic Party and form an alliance with his old party known as Gerindra. When confronted by the Jakarta Globe with the allegations, Muchdi’s tone changed from soft and polite to loud and enraged.

“What?” the retired general said in an earsplitting voice. “That’s not true. None of it is true.”

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2011
04/25
CATEGORY
Indonesia
Politics
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NTB Governor Wants Lombok Tolerant but Ahmadiyah Free

There’s nothing worst then an overly edited article that takes all the juice out. Here’s an unedited version of this and this

An Ahmadiyah family in Transito shelter, Mataram, Indonesia

Last year, Faizah spent 20 million she had painstakingly raised over the course of four years to rebuild her home that was destroyed by a mob attack in 2006 only to be turned into ruin again in late 2010.

Faizah, a 30 year-old mother of four, is a former resident of Gegerung village in the West Lombok district of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and an avid member of the Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect deemed deviant and constantly harassed by mainstream Muslim groups.

On November 26, more than a hundred people ransacked the village, with police unable to do more than watch.

Speaking to the Jakarta Globe at a temporary shelter which houses around 500 displaced Ahmadiyah members in the province capital, Mataram, Faizah said that although her home was spared in the November incident, people soon looted her possessions after police were no longer there to maintain order.

“Right now, I am too afraid to return home. I heard from some of the neighbors sympathetic to me that there are now people who constantly looting my roof tiles, stealing my wooden beams and taking everything I had,” she said. “I think all there is left is the skeleton of my former home.”

Endless Persecution

This is the third attack against Ahmadiyah in NTB and Faizah survived all three.

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2011
01/25
CATEGORY
Indonesia
National
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KPK Under Intense Counter-Attack over Miranda Case

Several of the 26 suspects charged with receiving bribe money in connection with the appointment of a Central Bank executive in 2004 are launching a counter attack against the KPK’s decision to name them as a suspect.

Golkar’s Hengky Baramuli filed a judicial review against an article on the 2002 Law on the KPK which stipulates that the KPK cannot stop an investigation once it had charge someone.

Another suspect, sitting PDI-P lawmaker Panda Nababan had taken his case to the National Commission for Human Rights saying that the KPK had violated his civil rights. Panda had also reported several Anti-Corruption Court judges who implicated him in the case to the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission.

Six former PDI-P legislators on Monday also filed a civil lawsuit against the KPK for implicating them in the bribery scandal surrounding the 2004 appointment of Miranda. The men are seeking Rp 25 billion in damages from the body.

The plaintiffs say they were instructed by PDI-P leaders to take the money and donate it to the party to support the nomination of chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri in the presidential race. Thus, it had nothing to do with Miranda’s central bank bid, the plaintiff’s lawyer Petrus Selestinus said.

Nunun, the wife of former National Police Deputy Chief Adang Daradjatun, is wanted for questioning over the distribution of Rp 24 billion in traveler’s checks to members of the House of Representatives in 2004.

The money is thought to have been in exchange for their votes for Miranda Goeltom as senior deputy governor of the central bank.

Ina Rachman said that her client had been suffering from a mysterious illness which caused her memory problems and had to be treated at a hospital in Singapore.

2010
11/03
CATEGORY
Indonesia
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Live Ammo to Handle Rioters?

 

The announcement came a week late. By this time National Police chief already enforced an internal regulation on the use of firearm in countering public demonstrations and riots.

Although police chief said that officers are only allowed to shoot to immobilize, not to kill but he also said “this new regulation hopefully will eliminate our officers’ doubts in handling anarchy because they were worried before about violating human rights.”

There were two incidents which led up to this regulation. A brawl in front of a court in Jakarta which saw three people dead and a string of attacks against police stations across the country. Angry lawmakers disappointed with police inaction later push for “strict action” the National Police responded by issuing the regulation.

The regulation was instantly met with grave concern from rights group. Poengky Indarti of Imparsial called the regulation “insane.” Indria Fernida of Kontras said that there is no indication that the new regulation complies to the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms.

Imparsial said in June that there have been a least 135 cases of the police using force excessively since 2005. Last week, police in Wamena, Papua, shot and killed three civilians during a brawl. In September, police in Buol, Central Sulawesi, fired shots into a crowd of protesters, killing five people and wounding 23 weeks later police killed two people after a traffic accident spun out of control

There were investigations into the three incidents but everything was done internally and not open for public scrutiny.

I wonder what the families of the May 1998 victims had to say about this regulation. I wonder what the people of Buol think about the regulation too.

2010
10/13
CATEGORY
Indonesia
Legal
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Milestone: 32 politicians jailed for graft

In what set to be a clear milestone for the country’s legal system and a possible national record, 32 former members of the Bogor Representatives Council were found guilty of corruption by the Bogor District Court in West Java.

The council members were sentenced to one year in prison and Rp 50 million in fines each for their role in a Rp 1.3 billion embezzlement case from the city coffers. In 2002, the 32 politicians approved the budget for medical check up and insurance of council members.

The court however found that the money was instead channeled to the defendants pocket. The prosecution and several of the defendants immediately expressed their plans to lodge an appeal to the West Java High Court.

This is only the second time an Indonesian court tried huge numbers of defendants for corruption at the same trial. In 2005, a district court in West Sumatra sentenced 27 former council members to four years imprisonment each for corruption.

2010
08/03
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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BHD: We Have Evidence…We Just Don’t Know Where We Kept it

During a meeting with the House of Representatives In November last year, National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji were convinced that they were right to charge Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah with extorting businessman Anggodo Widjojo with a Rp 5.1 billion pay off

Bambang and Hendarman said that they had obtained 64 wiretapped conversations between an official at the antigarft commission, also known as the KPK and a suspected middleman for Anggodo, as well as CCTV footage, that indicate Bibit and Chandra did take the bribe.

But after the Anti-Corruption Court last week ordered the National Police to disclose the recordings and footage, both men seemed to give vague answers over the existence of the key pieces of evidence.

“The National Police have the recordings. They were never submitted to us as evidence. Police also have CCTV footage, but it was never shown to us because police were having a hard time opening it. So it is best for you to ask the police,” former deputy attorney general on special crimes Marwan Effendy said.

Bambang meanwhile told reporters that police indeed have the recordings. “We are still looking for them but they are in our possession,” the police general said. “At the moment we can’t respond to the court’s demand.”

“This is very ridiculous and shameful,” Hasril Hertanto a legal analyst from the University of Indonesia said. “How can a key piece of evidence in a major case being investigated got misplaced? It is possible that police were looking for excuses because they didn’t have the recordings to begin with.”

Bambang’s remarks were inconsistent however with those of his subordinates.

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2010
07/30
CATEGORY
Legal
National
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(Unedited) Graft Probe Into Rp 95b in Police General’s Account

The Corruption Eradication Commission pledged to investigate the link between three bank accounts containing Rp 95 billion to a senior officer from National Police headquarters.

Haryono Umar, deputy chairman of the commission, also known as the KPK said that the body chief of graft prevention division Eko Soesamto Tjiptadi would lead the probe against Insp. Gen. Budi Gunawan, the head of internal affairs at the National Police “We will conduct a clarification in the near future because there is a huge discrepancies between the allegations and (BG’s) asset declaration,” Haryono said adding that the team would not consist any police investigators stationed at the KPK to avoid conflict of interests.

In 2005, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which is responsible for monitoring suspicious transactions at virtually all financial institutions in the country submitted 1,000 suspicious transactions to the National Police, which were said to have involved 15 high-ranking police officers, including Budi Gunawan.

The Indonesia Corruption Watch armed with new data recorded all the way to 2008, last month submitted fresh allegations to the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force and to the KPK, prompting a strong reaction from National Police officials. The group however refused to divulge any names. “There were indications of bribery and illegal gratuities in the accounts. The KPK must investigate how can a police officer have Rp 95 billion in his accounts and where it originates,” ICW chairman Danang Widoyoko said.

The PPATK report, a copy of which was obtained by the Jakarta Globe, identified the accounts in question as holding large sums of money, but said there was no problem “as long as its owner could show that the transactions were not related to his position.”

The document also named two companies that had allegedly transferred funds into the accounts — PT Masindo and PT Sumber Jaya Indah. They were investigated by police, but it was unclear whether any further action was taken.

A police source close to the investigation said that Masindo is a property developer which in 2004 planned to build an apartment at a location belonging to the National Police. In 2006, Masindo had yet to secure a deal with the National Police over the property and several investors later reported the company for fraud and embezzlement.

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2010
06/29
CATEGORY
Legal
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My Eureka Moment on Corruption

I went to the supermarket the other day to do my routine weekly shopping. The whole process went rather uneventfully until I came across the fruit and vegetables section. On display were freshly picked luscious grapes that I could’ve sworn, spoke to me “go on have a bite.”

I was tempted to pick some for myself with absolutely no intention of buying. I could very well have. Nowhere in sight were the store staffers and signs saying I shouldn’t. I most certainly could afford to buy some, and so could these other shoppers stealing the fruit with no remorse or shame as the eye on the sky is ever so watchful.

But that’s when it hit me. My personal eureka moment finally came. Years upon years writing about the rampant corruption practices in the country and trying to find some sort of solution to put an end to the illicit act, the answer lies in front of my very eyes.

It was never about the Indonesian culture of corruption or better remuneration or children fables of the mischievous creature called kancil. It was the sin of all sin “greed” and decades of weak legal enforcement. That’s what a handful of people are trying to solve.

We could arrest these so-called corruptors and throw away the key, leaving about 60 percent of the population behind bars. The antigraft commission, or KPK, had arrested four officials from the Ministry of Transportation on three different cases of corruption. You think by now these four would be made examples of and deter their friends from corruption. Think again.

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2010
06/23
CATEGORY
Indonesia
Legal
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Why Gayus agrees returning home

This is the email I received from Denny Indrayana secretary of the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force about the return of Indonesia’s most wanted graft fugitive Gayus Tambunan. Translated into English for your enjoyment

Tuesday

10:00 Task force coordinated with National Police chief of detectives Comr Gen Ito Sumardi to explore the possibility of returning Gayus from Singapore. It was decided that the team should depart to Singapor

16:40 Task Force member Mas Achmad Santosa and Denny Indrayana left Soekarno Hatta airport Jakarta to Changi, Singapore

19:15 (Singapore time) Task force arrived at Changi and coordinated with Chief of Detectives that was already in Singapore

20:30 The team had dinner at the Asian Food Mall, Lucky Plaza Orchard Road. Coincidentally Gayus Tambunan was there. The team immediately alerted Chief of Detectives. The team talked for two hours with Gayus persuading him to cooperate and return home to face justice.

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2010
03/31
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Susno, What are His Motives?

I watched the movie the Informant lately and I can’t help to notice that the story is somewhat similar to former National Police chief of Detectives Comr Gen Susno Duadji.

In the movie Matt Damon’s character (taken from a true story) becomes a whistleblower telling the FBI about a price-fixing scheme involving his company. What the FBI doesn’t know is that Damon’s character has a few secrets and hidden motives up his sleeves.

Susno suddenly burst to the media that there is a case broker at the National Police. The report seems to be credible. The Police is/was handling a 30 year old tax official who happened to have Rp 25 billion ($2.7 million). Just when he was about to be prosecuted police unfroze his account, granting him access to the money and (quite possibly) bribe law enforcers.

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2010
03/25
CATEGORY
Indonesia
Legal
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