Pandaya , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 11/05/2009 9:54 AM | Headlines
Still on the defensive from heavy attacks over the bizarre arrest of two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, the Yudhoyono administration is bracing itself for yet another front.
The budding challenge is a threat from an alliance of legislators, mostly those from political parties which refused to join Yudhoyono’s grand coalition government, to hold an inquiry into the Rp 6.7 trillion (US$699 million) in taxpayers’ money used to bail out Bank Century.
In the forefront are legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who have formed their own investigative team and put the planned inquiry on its first-100-day list of priority programs.
On the bandwagon are House legislators from smaller opposition parties, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and quite a number of lawmakers from the Golkar Party, which is part of Yudhoyono’s coalition.
The PDI-P party has claimed that, as of last week, 200 legislators from various political parties in the House have signed up for the inquiry — way higher than the 25 petitioners the law requires for such a motion.
The inquiry, if it does materialize, would force the government to disclose the mystery surrounding the bailout that could provide strong ammunition to take the scandal to justice but is not likely to lead to the President’s impeachment.
The government’s rescue of the crumbling private bank has erupted into a political scandal due to the bailout fund’s exponential upward revision, from the initially estimated Rp 1.7 trillion the House approved, to a whopping Rp 6.7 trillion.
You may wonder what you can spend if you wake up and find Rp 6.7 trillion transferred to your bank account — it is a lot, really. By comparison, the government spent “only” Rp 100 billion in emergency funds for victims of the recent devastating earthquake in West Sumatra.
Bank Indonesia and Finance Ministry officials made quite a scene when they openly blamed each other for the outrage. Many people have demanded the authorities look into the possibility of a conspiracy between the owners and corrupt officials to defraud the bank.
The government insists that Bank Century’s survival needed emergency measures and closure would have only triggered a catastrophic domino effect in the country’s banking system. But this explanation raises more questions than answers.
Critics have been questioning if the small bank really deserved the suspiciously gargantuan sum of money that could have been put into more urgent and productive areas, with Indonesia reeling from the global financial crisis.
The massive bailout has given rise to rumors the government had refused to shut down the ailing bank instead because many relatives and financier cronies of top government officials would have lost their huge deposits there.
Under the Indonesian banking laws, the state can only provide Rp 2 billion as a maximum guarantee.
Also under public scrutiny is whether Bank Indonesia, as the controller, effectively monitored the bailout. Appropriate assessments could have either saved the bank or at least minimized the funds that the state had made available to make it healthy.
The bailout saga has been investigated by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) over the past several months. It submitted its interim report to the House of Representatives on Sept. 28 and promised to complete the audit by the end of the year.
From the provisional report, House legislators said they had found criminal evidence surrounding the disputed bailout, such as funds being illegally funneled, inconsistency of statistical data and apparent slackness of supervision by BI.
Advocates of the inquiry have been split over when they should summon the President (or his representatives) to answer lawmakers’ questions on the bailout, which could hamper Yudhoyono’s effort to achieve his own first-100-day targets.
Some opt to wait until the BPK completes its report but the PDI-P insists the inquiry should start as soon as possible.
With 200 lawmakers already signing up, as the PDI-P claims, let’s not be dazzled by the statistics.
Over the past five years, House legislators have attempted numerous such enquiries and pro-government legislators would shoot all of them down.
Now that the 560-member House is dominated by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party which coalesces with an army of Islamic parties and the Golkar Party, the situation may stay the same. The inquiry motion was tumultuous, as it began as if the country was bracing for a revolution, but after the House politicians assembled for a decision, nothing happened.
This time, the move is sure adding to the pressure for the Yudho-yono regime to honor its promise to fight crippling corruption and will become a test case for the new legislators to prove their commitment to defending the public interest.
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