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Jakarta
Hit By Protests Over Corruption Scandal
By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL South East Asia correspondent
JAKARTA,
March 7 (IslamOnline) - Indonesia’s capital Jakarta was hit by protests over
the corruption scandal involving Akbar Tandjung the speaker of the House of
Representatives (DPR) on Thursday.
Various
groups staged demonstrations in support or in protest of the ongoing probe of
the 1999 State Logistics Agency (Bulog) case.
The
most vocal support was in favor of the embattled leader of the Golkar Party who
is accused of involvement in a scandal worth millions of U.S. dollars.
Some
2000 supporters of the Golkar Party demonstrated at the Attorney General’s
office in South Jakarta while Tandjung was being questioned as a suspect in the
case.
Students
also staged protests demanding the Attorney General's Office detain Akbar and
the prosecutor’s further look into the charges of graft.
The
students, who staged a protest in Central Jakarta, rallied around the capital's
main thoroughfares and also in front of the State Palace.
Some
student groups also went to the legislative building but there were no clashes
between the different groups, police said.
Muslim
groups also protested against Tandjung, urging the authorities to detain the
party leader who is a rich businessman with established businesses in Indonesia.
The
DPR has on Thursday completed its deliberations on the formation of a committee
to investigate the case further. The corruption case turned around the siphoning
of money belonging to the Bulog 1999, a fund intended to assist the poor.
The
Golkar party has flatly rejected the formation of the committee while the
largest formation in Indonesia the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle
(PDI-P) has proposed a delay in the formation of the committee.
House
of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung was declared a suspect in the case and
while the House session was in progress he was being questioned at the Attorney
General's Office.
Former
Bulog chairman Rahardi Ramelan was also named a suspect in the case and is being
held at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.
Former
president B.J. Habibie has been questioned in connection with the scandal, but
the Attorney General's Office has said that he is a witness in the case.
The
House Speaker is being charged with misusing the funds, which reportedly were
not used to procure food aid packages as claimed by the Raudlatul Jannah
Foundation, which is responsible for the distribution of the packages.
Tandjung
held the ministerial post of state secretary under Habibie in 1999 at the time
of the alleged fraud that involves funds from Bulog. He helped oust Habibie as
president by causing a split vote from the Golkar faction in parliament in late
1999.
The
Golkar Party has also been implicated in the case and could face closure or
suspension, sources in Jakarta said. It could, in theory, be dissolved if it is
found to have violated campaign spending limits, the Jakarta Post newspaper said.
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