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Yudhoyono's Annus Horribilis
Written by Our Correspondent
Friday, 23 December 2011
Nazaruddin continues his destruction derby (photo credit: Jakarta Globe)
Revelations of corruption continue from former fugitive treasurer Nazaruddin
As 2011 draws to a close, it would be hard to imagine a worse year for
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party. The
president’s image as a reformer has been irreparably damaged, along with his
party’s hopes to maintain control of Indonesian politics into the future.
Much – but not all -- of the damage has come at the hands of Muhammad
Nazaruddin, the former treasurer of the party, who has been delivering up
bombshell after bombshell in a Jakarta courtroom for much of the last month.
This week was no exception. Nazaruddin showed reporters copies of 16 receipts
for bribes allegedly paid by Party Chairman Anas Urbaningrum to individuals
connected to the controversial Athletes’ Village constructed for the Southeast
Asia Games which were held in November.
Nazaruddin fled Jakarta in May ahead of arrest by the Corruption Eradication
Commission. He has drawn Yudhoyono himself into the mess, saying he had visited
the president’s home the day before he hurriedly decamped for Singapore, to
tell him of the involvement of top Democratic Party officials in the scandals.
Nazaruddin’s lawyers told reporters in early December that the president hadn’t
acted on the former treasurer’s information.
Nazaruddin was on the run for months before he was intercepted by Interpol in
Cartagena, a resort city on the Colombian coast. During that period of freedom,
he texted and tweeted reporters in Jakarta, alleging the involvement of the
party officials.
Urbaningrum was once considered one of Yudhoyono’s young reformers and was a
presumptive candidate for the presidency when the president’s term ends in
2014, as was former Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng. With the evidence
Nazaruddin has offered against other top Democratic Party officials, however,
it is unlikely that the party will be able to field a candidate at all.
The marriage of Yudhoyono’s son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, and Siti Ruby Aliaya
Rajasa, the daughter of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta
Rajasa, was touted in November as producing Hatta as a viable political
candidate. Hatta is the chairman of the moderate Islamist National Mandate
Party (PAN) and, under this theory, would be nominated in 2014 to replace SBY
as the country’s chief executive in national elections. PAN has already
announced that Hatta, a seasoned political veteran who has served in four
different cabinets and is one of the president’s closest advisors, would be
nominated as the party‘s candidate to hold the fort until Edhie ages enough to
seek the presidency.
That theory has been largely forgotten, however. No other major figures have
emerged, leaving the race open to such unlikely figures as Aburizal Bakrie, the
coal tycoon and head of Golkar, who has been tarred with a long series of
scandals himself, and Wiranto, a retired general who was accused of a long list
of human rights violations at the time the strongman Suharto fell in 1998, and
in 1999 in East Timor as the fledgling country fought for independence from
Indonesia. Another mentioned is Prabowo Subianto, like Wiranto a onetime
general who was also accused of extensive human rights violations. Both ran in
national elections held in 2009 although neither gathered many votes.
The constant barrage of revelations by Nazaruddin – often delivered to
reporters with a big smile on his face -- also has put paid to earlier
suppositions that he would shut up and that his testimony would be muted
because it involves top Indonesian political and business figures. Despite the
fact that an official of the Corruption Eradication Commission said the 16
receipts can’t be considered valid evidence in Nazaruddin’s trial, their
widespread publication is damning evidence against Democratic Party leaders.
Indonesia being Indonesia, however, spectacular revelations come and go. A
former mid-level tax official, Gayus Tambunan, who like Nazaruddin went on
walkabout, although from jail, alleged that Bakrie had evaded hundreds of
millions of US dollars in taxes. However, the allegations have oozed away to
nothiong.
Although Nazaruddin is standing trial for allegedly taking bribes in the
bid-rigging case linked to the construction of the athletes’ village, he has
previously accused Urbaningrum of corruption in another project, the
construction of Hambalang Stadium in Bogor. He has also implicated Democratic
lawmaker Angelina Sondakh, a glamorous former beauty queen and television
presenter, for having extorted bribes in the same athletes’ village case for
which he is on trial.
“These receipts are proof. For the originals, ask Anas because he is the one
holding them,” Nazaruddin told reporters Wednesday. On Thursday, he said he
explained to KPK investigators all about the Hambalang project and how Anas had
allegedly taken a bribe from state-owned construction firm Adhi Karya to give
it the contract for the project. He also claimed that Anas then used the money
to fund his successful bid for the Democratic Party chairmanship at the party’s
national caucus in 2010.
Nazaruddin has also accused Saan Mustofa, the Democratic deputy secretary
general, of distributing the money as bribes in exchange for votes for Anas.
“I’ve already told them everything, from where the money came from to who
passed it on and where — everything,” Nazaruddin said after being questioned at
the KPK office.
He added that he was also quizzed about other projects awarded to Adhi Karya,
including the construction of a tax office building and an electricity grid in
East Kalimantan. It seems certain that the revelations will continue into the
new year.
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