Megawati Disavows Members amid Bribery Allegations
Megawati said she would not protect the members of her Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP-P) who did not follow the party’s instructions. The warning was made amid allegations party members have been involved in bribery
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The National Working Meeting and the 47th anniversary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was officially opened in Jakarta on Friday with a lively atmosphere.
Although she did not directly refer to cases of alleged bribery involving PDI-P politician Harun Masiku and a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Wahyu Setiawan, during the event PDI-P chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri reminded her members to obey party instructions and ideology.
"Do not turn your back on the people, do not try to take advantage of political work and do not seek personal or group gains from this ideological task," Megawati said in a speech that lasted for 42 minutes.
In addition to PDI-P members, also attending the event were President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin, a number of former vice presidents, several ministers and other state officials. In her speech, Megawati asked all party members to consistently carry out party duties for the welfare of the people.
Do not turn your back on the people.
"This is a direct instruction from the chairperson. I will not protect members who do not obey the party\'s instructions," Megawati said.
Although the case related to the arrests of Harun Masiku, Wahyu, Saeful (secretariat staff of the PDI-P executive board) and Agustiani Tio Fridelina, a member of Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) from 2008 to 2012 was not discussed in the national congress, the news related to the arrests had prompted Megawati to hold a meeting with a number of her party\'s elite members in her residence on Jl. Teuku Umar in Central Jakarta on Thursday.
The chairman of the election campaign team of the PDI-P, Bambang Wuryanto, confirmed the meeting. However, the PDI-P denied the involvement of his party in the case of alleged bribery, in which Harun Masuki was named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The KPK accused Harun of bribing Wahyu to help him to get a seat in the House of Representative (DPR) through a mid-term replacement (PAW).
Providing help
The executive board of the PDI-P party is suspected of being involved in the efforts to help Harun get a DPR seat by replacing Nazarudin Kiemas, a candidate from the South Sumatra electoral district who died in March 2019.
At that time, the KPU determined that the votes received by Nazarudin Kiemas during the election were transferred to another candidate in line with the Law No. 17/2017 concerning elections. The law states that the votes of deceased candidates must be transferred to the candidates with the second highest number of votes. On that basis, the KPU decided to transfer the votes of Nazarudin Kiemas to Riezky Aprilia, contrary to the wishes of the PDI-P’s executive board.
As one of the efforts to enable Harun to replace Riezky, the PDI-P submitted a petition for the Supreme Court to review the KPU\'s regulations on nominations. One of the points of the petition is that during vote recounts, the party has the authority to determine the candidates themselves who are entitled to receive votes transferred from deceased candidates.
The Supreme Court approved part of the petition and decided the transfer of the vote is the right of the party. The petition in July 2019 was submitted on behalf of Megawati and PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto. After the Supreme Court ruling, the PDI-P sent a letter to the KPU asking the latter to implement the Supreme Court ruling.
We replaced him based on that rule of the game set in law.
When asked about the issue on the sidelines of the PDI-P’s national congress, Hasto, who was linked to the case through his staff, denied involvement in the case. When asked about his party’s efforts to help Harun get the DPR seat, he said he had never negotiated with the KPU.
He did not respond to questions about a request to the Supreme Court submitted by the executive board of the PDI-P. "The law for mid-term change of a DPR member is unchangeable. We never negotiated. We once had an experience of a candidate who died during the election. We replaced him based on that rule of the game set in law," he said.
During the PDI-P’s national congress on Friday, Hasto was not seen much. From the beginning to the end of the opening ceremony, he disappeared and did not accompany Megawati as he usually did at major PDI-P events. He appeared briefly to lead a moment of silence. Hasto also only appeared to accompany Megawati after President Jokowi left the congress. At that time, Hasto accompanied Megawati to tour an exhibition held during the event.
Investigated
Wahyu resigned as a member of the KPU after being named a suspect. The resignation was conveyed through a letter he sent to the KPU. KPU chairman Arief Budiman said he would soon hold an internal meeting to discuss the issue related to the involvement of Wahyu in the corruption case. The KPU had agreed to two options for dealing with the issue, in addition to reporting the status of the suspect Wahyu to the President, the legislature and the KPU’s board.
Meanwhile, KPK deputy chairman Lili Pintauli Siregar said that those who were suspected of being involved in the alleged corruption and knowing about this matter would be examined. It is also possible that Hasto would be summoned to provide information and explanations related to this allegation.
"Not only Hasto, but those who have relations with the case will be summoned," said Lili.
A member of the KPK Supervisory Council, Albertina Ho, said that she was carrying out the oversight function of the existing procedures in handling cases, including those related to the KPU commissioner bribery case.
"It must [conduct surveillance] in accordance with the authority and duties of that supervisory board," said Albertina.
Donal Fariz from Indonesia Corruption Watch hopes that the KPK would dare to take further steps in this case. "The KPK must develop allegations about the involvement of other actors in this case," said Donald.