Major parties support Megawati’s stance

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/21/2011 9:12 AM | Headlines


The Golkar Party said the antigraft body’s plan to question opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri as a witness in a high-profile graft case implicating senior politicians from her party was irrelevant and politically motivated.

Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said Sunday that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should have placed more focus on Miranda S. Goeltom, the woman at the center of the bribery case, instead of questioning Megawati.

The politicians implicated in the case are accused of receiving bribes from a third party to support Miranda’s successful bid to become Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor in 2004, when Megawati was president.

“It’s reasonable for Megawati to ignore the KPK summons. Why should they summon her?” he told The Jakarta Post via telephone.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Megawati, its chairwoman, would ignore the KPK summons until it received a clear explanation why her testimony was needed in the case, arguing that the former president would respond to the summons only for the right reason.

The party said the move, which the public saw as evasive, would not tarnish her image.

Bambang said the KPK’s plan to question Megawati was politically charged. “It is part of efforts to boost the ruling [Democratic Party’s] bargaining position ahead of a plenary meeting Tuesday to form an inquiry committee to investigate corruption at the tax office.”

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) deputy secretary-general Mahfudz Siddiq also slammed the KPK for summoning Megawati, saying the public would see it as a publicity stunt.

The summons was made at the request of two suspects, Max Moein and Poltak Sitorus, both of whom are PDI-P members. KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the antigraft body would not question Megawati’s decision to ignore its summons.

“It is her right to decide whether she appears before the KPK,” he said.

The Democratic Party said Megawati had no obligations to appear before the antigraft body since the summons was not based on its request.

“She will be a de charge witness as requested by Max. It is not compulsory for her to comply with the request,” Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin, the party’s central committee chairman for corruption eradication, said.

“She is not a witness for the KPK. She was summoned at the request of Max, who expects she can help the case against him,” he added.

Petrus Selestinus, the two suspects’ lawyer, said the resolution of the 2004 bribery case would benefit the Indonesian people and not his clients. “Her explanations would reveal why PDI-P legislators voted for Miranda, that’s all. Her testimony would not benefit my clients at all. They will still suffer for their involvement in the case,” Petrus said Sunday.

He claimed that apart from Max, other suspects from the PDI-P also hinted at Megawati during the investigation when questioned by the KPK.

Petrus said PDI-P lawmakers in the House of Representatives’ Commission IX overseeing finance and banking affairs at the time were instructed by PDI-P faction leader Tjahjo Kumolo to vote for Miranda.

“All decision made by the PDI-P faction were carried out under the central committee’s approval [which was chaired by Megawati at the time]. If Tjahjo took another decision without the party’s approval, he could be fired,” he said.

He said he hoped Megawati would comply with the summons to reveal the truth behind the case. (ebf)