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| Asia Indonesia's anti-corruption commission The gecko bites back Nov 5th 2009 | JAKARTA From The Economist print edition Yudhoyono: second term, first crisis THIS was to have been Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second honeymoon. Inaugurated for a second presidential term last month after a landslide election victory in July, he should have been basking in his recent international popularity and preparing for a regional summit in Singapore. Instead, he has been consumed by the fallout from a political scandal. On November 2nd he set up a team to look into an investigation by the police of members of the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK. The commission’s high-profile prosecutions had helped improve the country’s corrupt image and boosted the president’s standing. Mr Yudhoyono was responding to mounting public pressure and street protests that followed the arrest of two KPK deputy chairmen on dubious charges of abuse of power and extortion. This was the culmination of a months-long feud pitting the KPK against the national police and the attorney-general’s office. The two KPK officials, Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, were accused of taking bribes from Anggoro Widjojo, a corruption suspect, so that he could flee abroad. They say their arrests were part of a plot to frame them and weaken the KPK. A day after Mr Yudhoyono announced the investigation, a nationally televised court hearing broadcast more than four hours of tapped telephone conversations compiled by the KPK. They featured a man believed to be a state prosecutor, Mr Anggoro’s brother, who is an important police witness, and other unnamed figures. They suggested a plot to frame the KPK officials. Speakers also cited the president as backing the moves against the KPK. Within hours of the broadcast, the two KPK men were freed from jail (but remain under investigation). Mr Anggoro’s brother was detained for questioning. The scandal is overshadowing all Mr Yudhoyono’s plans for economic reform, and denting the mood of optimism that followed his re-election. His government has run an international television campaign touting Indonesia’s transformation from South-East Asia’s basket-case ten years ago into its leading democracy. The president’s election platform focused on the rule of law, fighting corruption and wooing foreign investment. Critics say the KPK was seen as going too far, gunning for Mr Yudhoyono’s political enemies and settling old scores with rivals in the police and attorney-general’s office. The fight has been extremely personal: the chief police detective, Susno Duadji, whose phone was tapped by the KPK in another corruption probe, famously compared KPK attempts to take on the police to “a gecko versus a crocodile”. Now Mr Susno himself has resigned under a cloud, as has the deputy attorney-general. The worry is that the scandal could cripple Mr Yudhoyono’s second-term agenda. Few doubt that it shows how the police and attorney-general’s office, widely regarded as among Indonesia’s most corrupt institutions, need serious reform. Worse, the revelations—including the suggestion that one of the KPK officials might be killed in jail—show that the bad habits of the authoritarian Suharto regime still haunt Indonesia a decade after its fall. After setting up his investigative team, Mr Yudhoyono promised to “uphold legal supremacy”. But it is still not clear that he grasps the severity of the crisis. He is known for his willingness to share political spoils and his preference for consensus. In this case, however, the public seems to yearn for confrontation: to see him take on the rot in Indonesia’s legal framework, and get rid of it. Source : Indonesia's anti-corruption commission: The gecko bites back | The Economist |
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| Indonesia Officials Resign in Graft Scandal By NORIMITSU ONISHI Published: November 5, 2009 JAKARTA, Indonesia — After mounting pressure from the public and the news media, two senior law enforcement officials suspected of trying to undermine the country’s respected anticorruption agency were forced to resign Thursday. Advocates of government accountability said the resignations of top officials in the national police and the attorney general’s office — two of Indonesia’s most powerful, though corrupt, institutions — were a positive step in the country’s fight against graft. The resignations were the culmination of a very public, four-month-long battle that pitted the police and the attorney general’s office against the Corruption Eradication Commission, the nation’s chief investigator into corruption. The dispute was seen as a test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s commitment to stamp out corruption. Despite praise for his anticorruption drive during his first term, Mr. Yudhoyono, who was re-elected in July, has been criticized by watchdog groups for distancing himself from the recent clash. Mr. Yudhoyono was forced to intervene Thursday after wiretapped conversations, disclosed in court this week, exposed what appeared to be a plot by police officials and prosecutors to fabricate a case against two senior anticorruption officials. In a cabinet meeting, Mr. Yudhoyono said he “advised the police chief and the attorney general to suspend those whose names were mentioned in the tape recordings and discharge them from their duties.” Later, using stronger language, he said he wanted to rid the country of the “legal mafia,” a reference to the pervasive corruption in the judiciary and law enforcement. But anticorruption advocates said that, given the president’s initial response, it was unlikely that he would push more far-reaching reforms inside the national police and attorney general’s office in his second term. “The K.P.K. received a lot of support from the public but not from the government,” said Danang Widojoko, a coordinator at Indonesia Corruption Watch, a private organization, referring to the anticorruption agency by the initials of its name in Indonesian. “It was the failure of the president to handle this situation in the beginning that led to the current problems.” The officials, Abdul Hakim Ritonga, a deputy attorney general, and Commissioner General Susno Duadji, a high-ranking police official, resigned Thursday after being named in wiretaps whose contents were submitted during a hearing at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday and broadcast live on television. The police chief and the attorney general said both men had resigned, but Mr. Ritonga said later that he was stepping down only as deputy attorney general. Both men have yet to comment on the wiretaps. Mr. Susno had become the central figure in the police’s fight with the anticorruption agency after being caught in a wiretap asking for a $1 million bribe in a case. Mr. Susno denied that he had been serious about the bribe and, referring to the anticorruption agency’s investigation of the police, likened it to “a gecko challenging a crocodile.” Though comparatively small, the agency, armed with tools like warrantless wiretaps, has led the nation’s charge against corruption since it was established in 2003. It has investigated, prosecuted and convicted businessmen, politicians and bankers, as well as prosecutors and police officials. Watchdog groups have long said that politicians, prosecutors and the police were trying to cripple the agency. The events that led to the resignations on Thursday were set in motion last week with the arrests of two deputies at the anticorruption agency on charges of graft and abuse of power. The arrests prompted outrage among anticorruption advocates, as well as on the Internet and in Indonesia’s news media. A version of this article appeared in print on November 6, 2009, on page A10 of the New York edition. Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/wo...donesia&st=cse |
| Senin, 09/11/2009 12:45 WIB Ramai di Media Asing KPK vs Polri: Krisis Pertama SBY di Awal Masa Jabatan Kedua Rita Uli Hutapea - detikNews  Jakarta - Bulan lalu The Economist menulis tentang Indonesia. Presiden SBY disanjung-sanjung. Indonesia disebut sebagai negara dengan pertumbuhan ekonomi yang sehat. Karena artikel yang positif ini, majalah bertiras lebih 1,2 juta itu sempat diborong dan dibagikan pada hadirin saat SBY bertandang ke Boston, AS, bulan lalu. Namun kini, media berpengaruh itu menulis lagi dan SBY disebut dalam kondisi kritis. Artikel terbaru media itu bertajuk "Yudhoyono: second term, first crisis". Ini seharusnya menjadi bulan madu kedua Presiden SBY. Demikian The Economist mengawali tulisannya. Dilantik bulan lalu setelah kemenangan mutlaknya dalam pilpres, SBY seharusnya menikmati poularitas internasional dan bersiap untuk pertemuan tingkat tinggi regional di Singapura. Namun SBY malah dihadapkan pada skandal politik yang melibatkan KPK, kepolisian dan kejaksaan agung. Masih menurut The Economist, skandal ini menenggelamkan rencana-rencana SBY untuk reformasi ekonomi serta mengurangi optimisme menyusul terpilihnya kembali SBY. Skandal ini bisa melumpuhkan agenda pemerintahan SBY. Ada yang menganggap skandal tersebut memperlihatkan bagaimana kepolisian dan Kejaksaan Agung sangat membutuhkan reformasi serius. Parahnya lagi, skandal tersebut menunjukkan bahwa kebiasaan-kebiasaan buruk rezim Soeharto masih menghantui Indonesia. Setelah membentuk Tim 8 untuk menyelidiki skandal tersebut, SBY berjanji akan mempertahankan supremasi hukum. Namun menurut The Economist, masih belum jelas apakah SBY memahami beratnya krisis ini. Apalagi SBY dikenal akan kesediaannya untuk berbagi keuntungan politik dan preferensi untuk konsensus. Dalam kasus ini, publik ingin melihat SBY mengatasi dan menyingkirkan kebusukan dalam kerangka hukum Indonesia. Media-media asing lainnya juga menyoroti skandal ini. Di antaranya Wall Street Journal juga mengangkat skandal politik ini dengan judul: "Tapes of Alleged High-Level Conspiracy Electrify Indonesia". Koran The New York Times dengan judul: "Indonesia Officials Resign in Graft Scandal". Adapun BBC Radio Australia mengangkat judul "Public anger over conspiracy to undermine Indonesia's corruption watch". Bahkan media Asia Times menulis judul: "Corruption bomb explodes in Indonesia". (ita/nrl) Sumber : detikNews : KPK vs Polri: Krisis Pertama SBY di Awal Masa Jabatan Kedua |
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