TEMPO No. 15/VIII/December 11-17, 2007 Cover Story Antasari Takes Center Stage
THE new leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was announced last week. Antasari Azhar, the prosecutor who people feel has a questionable record, was elected the new chairman of the institution. The Golkar and PDI-P parties played important roles behind the election outcome. Amien Sunaryadi, the candidate anticorruption activists felt was most suitable to lead the KPK, was kept out of the race. Tempo witnessed the entire election drama as it played out at the House of Representatives (DPR) in Senayan, Central Jakarta, in which Antasari came out victorious. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A GROUP of women quickly entered the room just as about 40 members of the DPR's Law Commission ended their session. Dressed in jeans and white T-shirts, these members of the Women's Anticorruption Alliance carried white roses. They moved about, rapidly placing flowers on the tables of the Law Commission session room. Along with the flowers was a piece of paper which read: "Use Your Conscience. Don't Pick Antasari." Also written on this paper, which featured a sketch of Antasari Azhar, the Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes, was the phrase: "10 Reasons Not to Pick Antasari." Antasari, according to the authorities, was involved in a deal to save the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance case, intentionally delaying the Tommy Suharto case, delaying the execution of a corruption case of a member of the West Sumatra Regional House of Representatives, and routinely bribing reporters. "It's too late," said a member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, when the girls put a flower on his table. "The names have already been set." On Wednesday night last week, he was chosen as Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, the KPK. In addition to Antasari, four others were chosen as leaders of the KPK for the 2007-2011 period, namely Inspector-General (ret) Bibit Samad Rianto, Chandra M. Hamzah, Haryono, and Mochamad Yasin. "This was a democratic decision, nothing was set up in advance. You saw for yourself, right?" asked DPR Law Commission Chairman, Trimedya Panjaitan, who presided over the election of officers for this corruption-fighting agency. Amien Sunaryadi, who was felt to be the most suitable to lead the KPK, was cast aside. Of the 49 members, only 16 voted for Amien. Of the 10 candidates, Antasari received the second-highest number of votes (37) and Amien came in eighth. "I was disappointed. Our candidate lost," said Soeripto, deputy head of the Legal Commission from the Justice & Prosperity Party (PKS). Before the event was over, Soeripto left the room. Anticorruption activists were also disappointed. "The KPK has dug its own grave," said Saldi Isram, a legal expert from Andalas University, Padang. "The DPR is blind and deaf, and does not hear the public's aspirations," said Denny Indrayana, Chairman of the Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat) at Gadjah Mada University. As a sign of "mourning," Pukat flew the flag at half-mast in the yard of their office, near the Gadjah Mada University campus, in Yogyakarta. l l l FROM the beginning, the inclusion of Antasari and Bibit Samad Rian by the selection committee in the final phase in September created controversy. Long before that happened, Indonesia Corruption Watch had "warned" the selection committee. According to ICW Chairman Teten Masduki, the inclusion of a public prosecutor and police could derail the corruption eradication agenda in government bodies, including inside the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the police. "The KPK needs people who are independent and courageous," said Teten. The AGO sent five prosecutors as candidates to lead the KPK. The four others were Chief Prosecutor of the AGO's South Sulawesi office, Masyhudi Ridwan, Deputy Attorney General for State Administration, Alex Sato Bya, head of the AGO Education Center, Marwan Effendi, and Togar R. Hutabarat, a public prosecutor from the rank and file. Of these five, two made it to the final list given to the President: Antasari and Marwan Effendi. Yet the Judicial Administration Monitoring Coalition (KPP) had already pointed out Antasari's and Marwan's shortcomings to the selection committee. The KPP interviewed several people who knew about the careers of Antasari and Marwan. The conclusion was that these two prosecutors were not clean. For instance, Antasari, when he was chief prosecutor at the Southeast Sulawesi AGO, was suspected of compromising with teak wood thieves. Marwan committed plagiarism when he did his doctoral dissertation. Bibit Rianto, a former expert staff member of the National Police Chief, was rejected by the KPP because he could not show any achievements in eradicating corruption. These deficiencies did not stop either of them from advancing. These two prosecutors denied committing the violations discovered by the KPP. In addition to Antasari, Marwan, and Bibit, the seven names sent to the President in September were: Amien Sunaryadi (KPK Deputy Chairman), Waluyo (KPK Deputy for Prevention), Haryono (Planning Bureau head, Development Finance Controller), Surachmin (Supervision Inspector, Supreme Audit Agency), Chandra Hamzah, and Iskandar Sonhadji. The last two are lawyers. Speaking to Tempo, a member of the selection committee, Daniel Sparingga, guaranteed the quality of the 10 candidates. "They are not angels, but they are the best." In the selection process, the KPP, which anticipated the risks involved in accepting Antasari, Marwan, and Bibit, sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They asked that the President drop the names of those three men. Adnan Topan Husodo, a KPP member, was not convinced that the KPK would become an institution which could reliably eradicate corruption if it was led by those three. "That selection was just to meet the quota, so there would be elements from the AGO or the police," said Adnan. The KPP letter was ineffectual. The President still sent the 10 names from the selection committee to the DPR. At the DPR, it was the need for a quota which later became a target of 'manipulation.' The two factions which made the most out of it were the PDI-P and Golkar factions. Of the 49 seats in the Law Commission, Golkar held 12 and PDI-P 10. "If they can get a few people from other factions, the PDIP-Golkar coalition is already on top," said a member of the United Development Party (PPP) faction. According to this member, in this way they could also keep Amien Sunaryadi out. "So, the alternatives were only Waluyo or Yasin. People felt these two are not as brave as Amien," said this member of the legislature who is known to be close with reporters. l l l LOBBYING took place hurriedly, a few days before the tests. Meetings were held at a number of hotels, among them the Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons, Jakarta. "That was for the bosses. We only waited for orders from the field coordinators," said a member of the PDI-P faction. Administrators who often gathered included the PDI-P, Golkar, and National Awakening Party factions. It was from these meetings that PDI-P and Golkar agreed on two candidates, Antasari and Bibit, and to sideline Amien. Speaking to Tempo, another member of the PDI-P faction admitted, before the election, that all of the members of the Law Commission from the PDI-P gathered and were ordered to choose three names: Antasari, Bibit and Haryono. "Those three names had to be secured," said the member. The PDI-P, according to the source, did not pick Marwan because this prosecutor was considered to have played a role in stopping the case of former President Suharto. "[He] also plays too much politics." As for the other two names, "They were left to the members to decide," said the source. "As long as it wasn't Amien." Deputy head of the PDI-P faction, Panda Nababan, denied there was a meeting of faction leaders in two hotels which led to an agreement. "There was no such thing. Did you see me there or not?" said this man who is called "field coordinator" by his colleagues. Deputy Chairman of the Law Commission from the Golkar faction, Aziz Syamsuddin, who previously told Koran Tempo daily that there was a meeting at the Ritz, denied his statement on Thursday last week. "I don't know. I wasn't there," he told Tempo reporter Dianing Sari. For sure, Golkar had agreed with PDI-P to keep Amien out of the running. According to a senior Golkar politician, their party named three people who they were obligated to vote for: Antasari, Bibit, and Chandra. Chandra, according to the source, was chosen because it was felt that he could cooperate better than Iskandar Sonhadji. "Iskandar is too close with the NGOs," said the source. Amien, added the source, "could not be forgiven" because he had a role in, among other things, sending Golkar cadres to prison. In addition to that, Amien was said to be the most adamant in asking DPR members to be involved in the investigation of the Bank Indonesia funds Akil Mochtar, a member of the Law Commission from Golkar, said that some people from his faction even came out in favor of voting for Antasari and Bibit. "I was against it. I said that if Bibit was in, then Amien was also in," said Akil. "Amien's expertise in the field of computer forensics is very useful for eradicating increasingly sophisticated corruption," he said. The only factions that were openly in favor of Amien as a candidate in the beginning were the PKS and the PPP parties. These two parties, together, only have nine votes. The "decimation" of Amien was seen during his fit-and-proper test on Monday last week. Members of the legislature took turns bombing him with various questions. The onslaught of questions and interruptions between House members even made Amien speechless. Mahfud Md. from the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction asked him about the rumor that he was an American agent. "I emphasized that it was untrue," said this father of three, who played an important role in the arrest of Mulyana W. Kusumah, a number of staff members of the Supreme Court, and Probosutedjo's lawyer, Harini Wiyoso, as well as exposing the Bulog corruption case. The mood changed when it was Antasari's turn to be tested. No volley of questions was made against Antasari. Over half of the members of the Law Commission gave a boisterous round of applause when Antasari answered the question regarding Benny K. Herman, a member from the Democrat Party, regarding his stance on the case involving Bank Indonesia funds flowing to the DPR, if he was elected a member of the KPK. "I would stake my reputation if the KPK was used as a means to oppress others," said Antasari. l l l ANTASARI could not be stopped. According to a Tempo source, five minutes before the election, there was a change in the PDI-P camp. In addition to choosing Antasari, Bibit, and Haryono, there was an instruction to vote for Chandra and Waluyo. "The agreement that the other two names were up to the members fell into confusion," said a PDI-P member. This last-minute order did not go over well. Not all of the members agreed to vote for Waluyo. "I voted for Yasin," said one PDI-P member. The situation was also not solid in the Golkar camp. One of the party's members admitted that some votes were cast for Marwan. Marwan's election campaign team, said the source, was operating out of the Democrat Party faction. "That is why Marwan shot up and got 27 votes, just one less than Yasin." However, Benny Kabur Harman denied that his faction was funneling votes for Marwan. "Nothing of the sort. We let the members make their own decision," said renny. The PKS and PPP failed to become a locomotive to gain votes for Amien. "I was also confused as to why Amien made such a poor showing," said Yudo Paripurno, a member from the PPP faction. l l l AMIEN himself said he was not disappointed that he was not chosen by the DPR. He felt it was normal for the members to come after him with various questions. "If I was a DPR member, I would have more pointed questions," he said to Widi Nugroho from Tempo. "What I felt was that I did not match with what Commission III was looking for." l l l ON Friday morning at his residence in Serpong, Tangerang, Antasari Azhar denied the rumor that he used money and lobbied top party officials to get elected as the new KPK Chairman. Earlier, a Tempo source who is a also a member of the PDI-P faction said that Antasari, before taking the fit-and-proper test, had met in private with PDI-P Secretary-General Pramono Anung. "There was no such thing," refuted Antasari. Antasari also refused to divulge his program for the KPK. "It's too early," he said. Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, Chairman of Transparency International Indonesia, said that the election of Antasari was the result of political compromise. Although he was disappointed with the DPR's choice, Todung said that his organization was going to keep a close watch on Antasari's work. "Don't lose the trust of the public to the extent that they do not support their duties," said Todung. Deputy Chairman of the Law Commission from the Golkar faction, Aziz Syamsuddin, also said that the DPR is going to watch the performance of the KPK under Antasari. "If it is bad, we will dismiss him," he said. A similar threat was made by Gayus Lumbuun, a legal expert and member of the PDI-P faction. Gayus gives the KPK a year to prove they are capable of doing the job. "If they fail, they should be dismissed." Antasari has come center stage to take part in hunting down corruptors. He has two choices: to steer this institution to where the public hopes it will go, or to sink it, becoming like a number of similar bodies which have come and gone before it. L.R. Baskoro -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KPK Leaders 2007-2011 Antasari Azhar 54 years old Last position: a.. Chief Prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes, Attorney General's Office a.. previously a Chief Prosecutor at the West Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office a.. Chief Prosecutor of the Southeast Sulawesi AGO, and head of the AGO Information Center Personal Assets: Rp3.3 billion Chandra Martha Hamzah 40 years old a.. Lawyer at the Law Firm of Assegaf, Hamzah & Partners Personal Wealth: Rp3.8 billion, US$12,815 Bibit Samad Rianto 62 years old Last position: a.. Dean of Bhayangkara University; was once an expert staff member for the National Police Chief and the Police Chief of East Kalimantan Personal Wealth: Rp1.8 billion Haryono 47 years old Last position: a.. Head of the Bureau of Planning and Supervision of the Development Finance Comptroller Personal Wealth: Rp814 million, US$6,146 Mochamad Yasin 49 years old Last position: a.. Director of Research & Development at the Corruption Eradication Commission a.. previously Director of Registration & Examination of State Officials' Wealth at the KPK Personal Wealth: Rp545 million LRB
