TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - No alibi or excuse can negate the fact that House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Setya Novanto has betrayed the state and the public. He has sold out the people's trust and, at the very least, the constituents who voted him in office in the 2014 general elections, by promoting his own interests and those of the group around him. He was part of a corrupt partnership that had only one objective in mind: to steal from the state.
The recording of Setya's conversation, in which he discusses acquiring Freeport Indonesia shares, provides evidence that is difficult to refute. In front of an oil businessman, whom we strongly believe to be Muhammad Riza Chalid, and Freeport Indonesia CEO Maroef Sjamsoeddin, Setya claimed President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla had asked for shares in the company as the price for extending the US mining giant's contract, which is due to expire in 2021.
Riza is well known as a businessman who often gets oil supply deals from Pertamina.Setya asked for 49 percent of the shares in a new hydroelectric power plant in Paniai, Papua, as a reward for aiding Freeport's cause.
Seemingly, Setya wanted to follow in the footsteps of Aburizal Bakrie, who was 'gifted' with as much as 10 percent of Freeport's shares in 1991 when Ginanjar Kartasasmita was mining and energy minister.The transaction was paid for with a loan, guaranteed by Freeport, as a reward for Bakrie having helped pave the way for the renewal of the company's contract of work. A year later, Bakrie sold 4.9 percent of those shares, valued at US$212.5 million, back to Freeport.
Using the names of the country's two leaders for questionable purposes must be dealt with seriously. This attempt at extortion is nothing less than a crime. So, too, is using the names of the head of state and his deputy. The police cannot remain quiet. The President himself should not remain passive, hoping for a political solution and an administrative sanction against the House speaker.
He should not be too concerned about causing bad relations between the government and the DPR if Setya ends up facing charges. Enforcing the law is the task of the government and does not need political intervention.
The case became even murkier after Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan another person mentioned in the transcripts attacked Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, claiming the minister had not received the president's approval to report Setya to the legislature's ethics council. Sudirman insisted he had.
It is no secret that relations between Luhut and Sudirman have not been warm. When Luhut was presidential chief of staff, he had several widely reported disputes with Sudirman over mining and energy issues, which indicated the presence of internal politicking within the government.
Sudirman is seen to belong to the camp of Vice President Kalla, who has repeatedly defended the energy minister. Luhut belongs to another camp and has often been seen to be incompetition with Kalla.
This divisive and complex situation must be resolved. Political cliques must not be tolerated.Law enforcers must go back to what is the core problem: a shakedown and an attempt at extortion.Charges that Sudirman disclosed the transcripts because he wanted to avoid being sidelined in the second cabinet reshuffle must be treated with a grain of salt.
When his subordinates squabble, the President should intervene and not allow such disputes to drag on and on. He must then carry out his political, legal and moral responsibility to clarify the situation and do what is right.
Politically, the President must now prove he is as clean as the voters believe him to be. Legally, he must act because the case is a blatant abuse of authority and misrepresentation.Morally, he must not tolerate such dirty practices in the center of power.Accountability must be followed by a purging of those around him.
Meanwhile, the government should best form an independent commission to study the Freeport contract issue. The commission, with the help of consultants and international financial advisors, must determine the best benefits that can be acquired for the state out of the company's operations.
Hopefully, that would end any further opportunity for Setya Novanto and other similar rent-seekers to deprive the people of what is rightfully theirs. (*)
Read the complete story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine