•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Two provincial Indonesian lawmakers from Islam-based political parties have been forced to deny allegations they were having extramarital sex in what has become and embarrassingly public scandal.

One of the lawmakers, Hellyana, from the United Development Party (PPP), told news portal Okezone.com that the accusations she had an affair with the Belitung District Council (DPRD) Speaker Mahadir Basti, from the Crescent Star Party (PBB), were not true.

Hellyana acknowledged that Mahadir’s wife had caught the pair alone together in a hotel room in Jakarta on Sunday, but said Mahadir, who was also staying at the hotel, had only been visiting her room prior to breaking the fast.

She said after breaking the fast, they had planned to go to the Grand Indonesia mall for dinner with other lawmakers, but Mahadir’s wife Juniati and her daughter entered the room.

Hellyana rejected the accusations of an illicit affairs, saying she was menstruating and therefore it would be impossible for her to have sex.

“I don’t have any romantic relationship with him but yes, we are friends. I often go to him for political consultations. If many people don’t believe that, that is their right,” she said.

Juniati had a different account, however.

Speaking to a local radio in Belitung, Juniati said that her husband arrived at the hotel at 5 p.m.

“I came to the hotel at 4 p.m. and when I saw Hellyana enter the hotel, I didn’t confront her because I had not seen my husband. At 5 p.m. I saw him coming to the hotel carrying a black plastic bag,” Juniati said on BFM Tanjungpandan radio.

Juniati and her daughter went to the Central Jakarta Police headquarters to file a report.

“I returned to the hotel with the Central Jakarta Police’s head of intelligence and went straight to the room where Hellyana and Mahadir were in,” she said.

Posing as a member of the cleaning service, Juniati began knocking on the door for an hour, but nobody would exit the room.

She said she finally asked reception to lend her a spare key.

“That’s when the door was opened and they appeared. The police took them to their headquarters,” she said.

She said she began suspecting that her husband had been cheating on her seven months ago after going through his cellphones and reading his messages.

It was not the first time that he had strayed, she said.

“He had an affair once. It was quite long but I forgave him after he ended it,” she said.

The candid radio interview was cut short, however, when Mahadir entered the studio and demanded his wife halt the interview.

“Don’t be reckless with your statements, you know the effects of the interview could be fatal because thousands of people are listening,” Mahadir was quoted as saying by Okezone.com during the interview. “If what you said was not true, it could lead to lawsuits.”

Juniati finally gave in and went with her husband.

The PPP and PBB are yet to comment on the scandal.