By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 10 (ANTARA) - Golkar, a political party allied with the ruling Democrats and whose cadre chairs the House Inquiry Committee, vowed on Thursday to have the controversial Bank Century bailout case uncovered all-out.
"The Golkar Party is determined to completely uncover the Bank Century bailout case so that the public will be able to see where the flows of the funds have gone to and to see if any procedural mistakes had taken place," Golkar Chairman Aburizal Bakrie said.
Golkar Party cadre Idrus Marham was recently named chairman of a special House inquiry committee charged with the task of investigating alleged irregularities in the Rp6.7 trillion bailout of Bank Century.
In this case, amid pessimism that the committee would perform well, the Golkar Party asked Idrus Marham not to have hesitate to uncover the case completely.
"We have instructed him to reveal the real data so that a decision would not be taken based on slander," Aburizal Bakrie said after installing a chairman of the Golkar Regional Executive Board for West Java on Thursday.
He also called on Idrus not to be afraid and bow to pressures, both pressures which would try to hamper the investigation or pressures in the form of slander. "I told him about this, especially with regard to his capacity as the House Inquiry Committee chairman," Aburizal Bakrie said.
The Golkar chairman said he fully supported Idrus Marham's chairmanship of the special committee. "Let's pray for him so that others would also believe him and give him a chance. We should not speculate because speculations are not good," he added.
Aburizal Bakrie said he was convinced that the Bank Century case could be disclosed. Therefore, he asked all parties to pray for him and not to have a prejudice against (his commitment). "We have to be optimistic in this life and we are confident the case can be solved," he said.
In the meantime, former Golkar chairman Jusuf Kalla said he was confident Idrus Marham would perform well. "I am confident that Idrus Marham is able to do the job well. After all, the inquiry committee is being led by a collective leadership so that the leaders and members would provide mutual help and inputs," Kalla who is also a former vice president said.
He said that he was also ready to provide explanations if he was invited by the inquiry committee. Yet he disagreed with certain quarters' view that he was a "crown witness" in the Bank Century case. "A lot of people could be summoned to testify in the case but no one could be called a 'crown witness'," Kalla said.
However, he expressed optimism that the alleged corruption in the Bank Century bailout will be disclosed transparently. "I am certain it will be disclosed transparently because that is what President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono also want," Kalla said.
Kalla said the Supreme Audit Board (BPK) and the House of Representatives (DPR) were also consistent in wanting to see the Bank Century case settled soon. "BPK and DPR have so far been consistently making every effort to deal with the case, and therefore I am optimistic that it can be disclosed transparently," Kalla said.
Bank Century almost collapsed some time ago when its financial assets were taken overseas by major share-holder Robert Tantular. In order to help the ailing bank, the government provided it with bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion without the approval of the DPR.
Legislators believed the government's decision to inject Rp6.7 trillion into the bank last year was a mistake and had the potential to cause a great loss on the state. After all, the State Audit Board (BPK) in its investigative report said there was an indication of irregularities in the Bank Century case.
Thus, the House of Representatives agreed to set up a special committee to probe into the case. The 30-member House Bank Century Inquiry Committee which was formed on Dec 2 on Friday night last week elected Idrus Marham of the Golkar Party Faction as its chairman.
However observers have doubts about the committee's commitment. Political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia (UI) said he doubted whether the committee would perform well and effectively because it was led by a chairman who came from a party that had signed a political contract as a government supporter.
Muhammad Idrus Marham of the Golkar Party was named its chairman while Golkar is one of the political parties which coalesced with the ruling Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.
"As an executive of the party, though there is a difference of opinion, he would not adopt a stance that is different from that of the government," Sanit said.
A similar view was expressed by Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a researcher of the Indonesia Survey Institute (LSI). Muhtadi said he was pessimistic that the committee would be able to reveal the truth about the Bank Century bailout case. Financial scandals which implicated political brokers involved many political parties where cartel politics played an important role.
"Cartel politics leads lawmakers to mutually provide protection for each other ," Muhtadi said.
However, according to Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar was determined to uncover the case.
"I have already ordered Idrus and other Golkar cadres not to hesitate to act to solve the Bank Century case. They should not also hesitate to summon those linked to the case," he said.
He said however that Golkar had not advised its members in the House to put the government or the president in a fix.
"Golkar supports the government and it only hopes that the case could be immediately settled so that the government could run well without any hindrances and with support from all parties,"he said.***4*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/S012) 21:10/.... ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 10-12-2009 22:21:28
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