TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The electronic identity card (e-KTP) procurement corruption trial yesterday, Jan. 25, revealed new information. Former House of Representatives` Budgetary Board deputy in 2009-2011, Mirwan Amir, said he had warned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also known as SBY, about a number of problems in the project.
Mirwan said that when he attended an event at Yudhoyono's home in Cikeas, he advised the man to stop the e-KTP project. Mirwan said SBY decided to go through with it, as it was being carried around the time of the regional heads' election.
According to Mirwan, he made the suggestion after receiving information from an entrepreneur named Yusnan Solihin, who is the product agent of an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) product from the United States.
Mirwan is a House of Representatives' member for the period of 2009-2014 from the Democrat Party. Later, he moved to the Hanura Party. In the e-KTP card indictment, his name surfaced and he is alleged to have received US$1.2 million worth of kickback from the project. Mirwan denied the allegation.
The Democrat Party's head of legal advocacy and legal division Ferdinand Hutahaean said that SBY had not responded to Mirwan's statement. However, Ferdinand said that even if Mirwan did advise Yudhoyono about the e-KTP project, it was impossible for the former president to follow it. He said that the government cannot stop a project just because a man advised him so.
"This was a policy that has been decided by the government and approved by the House of Representatives, it is impossible for the president to just stop it like that," he said.
LANI DIANA | INDRI MAULIDAR
