 Yudhoyono: Just a Little Problem
Wednesday was Anti-Corruption day in Indonesia, with rallies in Jakarta
and elsewhere drawing thousands of people demanding an end to graft at
a time when pubic anger has focused on several scandals.
The
relatively large crowds still fell short of expectations after
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned early in the week that his
political enemies would use the day to mount riots and mayhem. Two of
the country's most prominent anti-corruption groups, Indonesia
Corruption Watch and the local chapter of Transparency International,
pulled out of the planned demonstrations, perhaps fearing they would be
hijacked for political ends.
On Tuesday, Yudhoyono acted to
upstage the activists, declaring a "jihad" against corruption at a time
when he has been widely accused of dragging his heels on campaign
promises to clean up government.
A massive police presence in
Jakarta also seemed to deter demonstrators, but there were minor street
clashes in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, when up to
5,000 protesters calling for a probe into the controversial bailout in
2008 of Bank Century, an action that has become a flashpoint for unrest
over alleged graft, battled police.
In Jakarta, more than a
thousand protesters marched to the state palace waving signs calling
for a clean up of the country's law enforcement agencies.
For a
country mired in endemic corruption and ranked 130th of 163 countries
by Transparency International's corruption index, equal to countries
such as Ethiopia, and Papua New Guinea, the day's actions and recent
events point to a public sick of corruption and a government enmeshed
in political infighting.
The president has waffled for weeks over
drawn-out scandals involving law-enforcement agencies, members of his
government and allegedly his own political party over the complicated
Bank Century affair. That now threatens two of the most respected
members of his administration.
He stalled for weeks over national
police threats to jail two top members of the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK), the country's anti-graft agency, who appeared to be
seeking evidence against Susno Duadji, the recently replaced chief of
detectives, for complicity in the Bank Century scandal among other
transgressions. Susno has been reassigned to undefined duties after the
notoriously corrupt national police and the attorney general failed to
thwart the two KPK officials, who became public heroes and drew
millions of supporters to various Facebook pages backing their cause.
The
anti-graft commissioners, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, were
reinstated Tuesday, almost three months after they were suspended after
being declared suspects in what the police — led by Susno — termed a
case of abuse of power and extortion. Commission officials jubilantly
welcomed them back, as did students from various universities, who had
spent weeks stationed outside the KPK office in South Jakarta to
protest against the deputies' arrest.
The complex scandals of
recent months have overshadowed the beginning of Yudhoyono's second
five-year term in office and undermined his popularity after a sweeping
electoral victory in July. He appears these day embattled and
indecisive, not at all like a man enjoying a huge legislative majority
and a massive electoral mandate.
"I will lead the jihad against
corruption," Yudhoyono said on television Tuesday night, on the eve of
the rallies, but the president in many ways is fighting for his
political life as he attempts to regain the initiative on corruption.
With
an investigation into Bank Century beginning soon in the House of
Representatives, observers fear that the truth is less important to the
politicos leading the probe than what they can gain.
One casualty
could be either popular Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati or Vice
President Boediono, who was central bank governor when the bailout was
approved in November 2008.
Some analysts think Boediono may be
sacrificed to keep charges that Yudhoyono's Democratic Party used some
of the bailout funds for political purposes from appearing in the House
probe. Others think the buck may stop with Sri Mulyani. Both are
considered top-flight technocrats who are personally clean and
respected internationally. Their loss would be a body blow to the
government.
Unfortunately, in November 2008 the pair approved the
transfer of Rp6.7 trillion (US$710 million) in government bailout funds
to the ailing bank, which is at the center of a murky web of misdoing.
Both have said they bailed out the bank to protect the banking system
from the global financial meltdown and both have said they welcome a
probe into any misuse of the bailout funds.
Few doubt that
Yudhyono also will be badly wounded by the Bank Century mess and that
powerful forces, some led by so-called friends like tycoon Aburizal
Bakrie, who chairs the Golkar Party, are positioning themselves to
benefit from the public outrage over corruption.
Bakrie, some
insiders say, is angling for the vice presidency if Boediono should
resign or be forced from office. It is indeed ironic that Golkar, the
indelibly corrupt political party put in place by onetime strongman
Suharto during his three decades in power, is leading the House probe
into Bank Century.
Indonesia's deposit insurance law protects
deposits only up to Rp2 billion (US$119,000) per depositor. Critics
charge that the bailout was to help wealthy depositors. Susno, the
ousted detective chief, is alleged to have helped tycoon Boedi
Sampoerna retrieve as much as Rp2 trillion of the frozen funds and to
serve as a conduit to fleeing bank officials who hurriedly left the
country. Jakarta is abuzz with rumors that Sampoerna played a major
role in funding Yudhono's Democratic Party in 2004 during his first run
for the presidency, and that the bailout was payback time. Rumors also
abound that the Democrats used Century funds for the 2009 campaign. No
proof has surfaced.
A damning report recently from the Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) said that as much as 40 percent of the bailout funds were
effectively illegal. The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis
Center, another government body, found irregularities in at least 59
transactions involving transfers valued at Rp146.7 billion.
It is
unlikely that Yudhoyono will be impeached as a result of the DPR probe,
especially given the fact that his party and its allies, including
Golkar, control a huge majority in the body. Nonetheless, the jostling
for seats on the committee is intense, either to protect the president,
to nail him or to gain some other advantage from the process.
Yudhoyono's ruling Democratic Party will have eight seats, Golkar six
seats and the opposition Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) headed by
Megawati Sukarnoputri five. The rest will be divided among smaller
parties.
"We have to be on high alert, because there will be members
who will join the committee to uncover the facts, but there will also
be others who will join to hamper the investigation," Maruarar Sirait
of the PDI-P told reporters recently.
For today, at least, Yudhoyono
can rest easy because the demonstrations were mild. But the real
challenge to his power won't come from the streets but from inside the
halls of the legislature.
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