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Indonesian Leader Struggles In Fight Against Corruption
By IOL correspondent, Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Jan. 16 (IslamOnline)- President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia's call for the eradication of corruption, collusion-and nepotism-tainted practices (KKN) in the country may make its first victim Lower House (DPR) speaker, Akbar Tandjung, fails to clear himself of allegations of corruption, news reports said Wednesday.
“I stress that eradicating KKN thoroughly is a follow-up to our moral and political commitment,” Megawati said Sunday.
General Chairman Golkar Party Akbar Tandjung is accused of corrupt practices in a non-budgetary Bulog Funds case. He has been officially summoned to explain his role in the case. The Bulog is a state organism regulating the expenditures of the government.
He is the first highly elected official serving in the government to be summoned for corrupt practices. However, he enjoys the total support of his party members in the parliament (MPR) and in the DPR.
However, in Jakarta, observers told IslamOnline that it is almost certain Tandjung will be indicted for his involvement in the case.
They say the Megawati government, supported by “king maker” Amien Rais, powerful speaker of the MPR, will not give a leeway to Tandjung nor allow his pardon if he is found guilty.
Tandjung is currently the victim of his own political stance since the downfall of former “iron fist” ruler General Suharto. Suharto led the Golkar party while Tandjung was a Minister.
Tandjung played an important role in the downfall of President B J Habibie, an Islamist and a scientist (expert in aviation) who never had a chance to prove himself as a worthy president.
Habibie came from the same party as Tandjung, who forced the Golkar to vote against Habibie while he was being assessed by the MPR in 1999.
Tandjung later supported deposed president Abdurrahman Wahid against Megawati in the 1999 presidential election. The MPR is the instrument that votes the president in Indonesia and the Golkar faction in the MPR voted for Wahid.
However in 2001, Tandjung was at the forefront with Amien Rais in the battle to oust Wahid from power.
They teamed up with Megawati and other Islamic forces in the MPR to force the ouster of Wahid, who actually protected Tandjung against any inquiries on corruption.
Megawati pledged to fight corruption in all forms and confirmed her intentions when she reiterated the urgency of the battle to clean the country of such practices last Sunday.
She told around 10 thousand supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP) that all Indonesian citizens, including members of PDIP which took a commanding lead in the 1999 general elections, are under an obligation to fight KKN.
Megawati said the KKN practices which have become a way of life have driven the nation into backwardness, either economically, socially or politically.
The Suharto regime that ruled the country for 32 years has also been accused of corruption and nepotism, but the ailing ruler who is still living in his luxurious house in Jakarta has not been touched by justice in the country.
Tandjung is however putting a tough fight before his possible downfall from Indonesian politics.
Representatives of the Golkar faction in both parliament and lower house sharply criticized the performance of Megawati’s government’s policies in all fields.
They attacked her foreign policies, the rice policy, cement Gresik, education and the present oil question.
The Golkar however denied that they lashed out on PDI-Struggle on account of Megawati's approval to conduct a probe on the General Chairman of Golkar, Akbar Tandjung.
Editors in Jakarta said Wednesday that President Megawati should be consistent on law enforcement and eradication of KKN since the Legislative Assembly or Lower House has mandated her to eliminate KKN.
They warned that if Megawati chooses a political compromise and Tandjung case
remained unsolved, it would certainly affect her popularity and respectability.
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