RULING PARTY FIRES TREASURER

By Andi Adussalam

Jakarta, May 24 (ANTARA) - After several weeks under the spotlight of the public and media reports, the ruling Democrat Party (PD) fired on Monday its general treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin for  alleged attempt to give S$120 thousand in "gratification money" to the Constitutional Court (MK) last September.          Apart from the S$120 thousand case that came up to the surface two days ago, the PD general treasurer has also been alleged to have link with an alleged corruption case in the construction of a SEA Games athlete house in Palembang, South Sumatra.          But the immediate action taken by the PD against him was his link to the money he was reportedly trying to give to the Constitutional Court.          The decision of the DP to discharge its treasurer was announced by its Council of Honors on Monday, two days after MK chairman Mahfud MD reported the case to PD chief patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.         Mahfud reported to Yudhoyono, who is also the president, on Saturday that Nazaruddin had tried to give money amounting to 120 thousand Singapore dollars to MK Secretary General Janedjri M Gaffar in September last year.         According to Mahfud, it was Nazaruddin who called and asked Janedjri to meet him at a restaurant in Kemang area, South Jakarta, on September 23, 2010. Janedjri complied with Nazaruddin request because the DP treasurer was a member of Commission III of the House of Representatives and they have often met as working partners in the House     At the restaurant, Nazaruddin gave Janedjri money in two envelops. He refused to accept it but Nazaruddin left it behind.  The following day, Janedjri phoned him two times to return the money yet Nazaruddin still rejected it.          Then the two envelopes were sent to Nazaruddin's house in Pejaten, South Jakarta, on September 27, 2010, and at that time the envelopes were opened. It was then known that each of the envelops contained S$60,000. Nazaruddin phoned later Janedjri, asking his reason why he returned the money, which he said as a token of friendship.         "Because we were suspicious about the money, I ordered that it should be returned and a receipt should be obtained as proof that it has been handed back over. This case could be processed as a violation to the ethics," Mahfud said    In a press conference following his meeting with Mahfud, Yudhoyono said that Nazaruddin's alleged attempt to provide the money could be classified as a legal case. "I can say it is a matter of law. I would say it is not me who must handle it but the law enforcers," the president said.          Over two days, the issue of the handing over to the MK of the money, which Mahfud said not a bribe but a kind of gratification, had become the media and public spotlights that put the ruling DP at an unfavorable position.          Therefore, in an effort to improve its image, the Democrat Party's Council of Honors decided to discharge Nazaruddin from his position as the party general treasurer.          "If Muhammad Nazaruddin remains in his post as a general treasurer it will have a bad impact on the person concerned or the Democrat Party," Amir Syamsuddin, secretary of the party's honors council, said.          Therefore,  the party had finally taken the  decision to fire Muhammad Nazaruddin as the party's general treasurer, he said when announcing the decision at a press conference at the office of the Democrat Party Executive Board on Jalan Kramat VII here on Monday evening.          He said the decision was taken with a view to neutralizing the negative reports.  Amir said if Muhammad Nazaruddin was not in the post any longer the negative reports from mass media would stop. "Therefore the advisory board fired him and relieved him from his post as a general treasure," he said.          He said the advisory board hoped all parties concerned would respect the principles of presumption of innocence and legal institutions would process the legal case Nazaruddin had been accused of professionally.          According to Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, the decision to fire Nazaruddin was taken half-heartedly and merely an effort to improve the image of the PD in the eyes of the public.         "The decision does not fully reflects the sincerity of PD chief  patron, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,  to combat political corruption in this country, but constitutes an effort to restore the image of the Democrat Party in the eyes of the public," Hendardi said on Tuesday.          He said that the decision was a compromised and half-hearted decision. PD General Chairman Anas Urbaningrum and Yudhoyono cannot claimed that the ruling Democrat Party is already clean by its action to discharge Nasaruddin. After all, it has lost the public trust on its efforts to eradication corruption initiated by political elite.          Hendardi said that the public had also been suspicious about other Democrat Party elite because political corruption could not be committed by only one person. Therefore, he believed that Nazaruddin is only a victim in the PD's efforts to restore its image.          Yudhoyono and Anas should have suspended Nazaruddin since he was reportedly implicated in another alleged corruption case in the construction SEA Games athlete house in Palembang, Hendardi said.          He said that the "tug-of-war" among the PD elite with regard to the Nazaruddin case had left the impression that Yudhoyono and other PD executives were not sincere, neither firm in overcoming political corruption in this country.         After all, he said, Yudhoyono and Anas have already been informed of the Nazaruddin gratification money to the Constitutional Court since November 2010. ***3*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/F001) 24-05-2011 12:16: