Camelia Pasandaran

Drive to Oust Sri Mulyani and Boediono Harms Antigraft Fight, Analyst Says

Political interests, including groups pushing for the heads of Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, are hampering the nation’s antigraft movement, according to an analyst.

“The message of anticorruption itself is not necessarily the focus. They actually want to punish Sri Mulyani and Boediono,” Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a lecturer at the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

“It’s too early for punishments to be rendered,” he said. “If they are proven guilty, they can be asked to step down. But surely we shouldn’t ask them to step down at the start of the investigation.”

Burhanuddin was referring to a special committee established by the House of Representatives to investigate why Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) was injected into PT Bank Century, despite the House only approving a Rp 1.3 trillion rescue.

Boediono, central bank governor at the time, and Sri Mulyani were central figures in the bailout decision, which has made them a target for government critics and antigraft protesters.

Large anticorruption protests continued on Tuesday in the capital and elsewhere, driven mainly by the Bank Century scandal.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside the Vice Presidential Palace on Tuesday demanding that Boediono and Sri Mulyani step down from their posts.

The demonstrators were mainly from the People’s Command Against Neoliberalism (Koran) and the Civil Alliance to Rescue the People’s Money (Aspur).

“The Bank Century bailout should be investigated by questioning Sri Mulyani and Boediono, who have been the source of the scandal,” said Miftakur Rohmat from Koran. “For the sake of the legal process, they should step down.”

The groups were also calling for a purge of the country’s pro-free market politicians, namely Sri Mulyani and Boediono, both internationally-respected technocrats who have been praised for their reform efforts.

During a weekend press conference, Boediono stood by his decisions in relation to the case. But neither his nor Sri Mulyani’s defense against the claims of misconduct have stopped the daily protests.

Burhanuddin said the demonstrations might be backed by political forces hoping to take over the senior positions occupied by Boediono and Sri Mulyani.

“The reluctance of the two most significant anticorruption organizations, Indonesia Corruption Watch and Transparency International Indonesia, to join the rallies shows that something is wrong here.”

Danang Widoyoko, ICW coordinator, told the Jakarta Globe last week that too many ambiguous groups were participating in the rallies on International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec. 9, each with their own agendas.

Some groups, he said, wanted the president, vice president and finance minister to step down over the Bank Century scandal.

Among Sri Mulyani’s fiercest political critics is controversial businessman Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of the Golkar Party. The pair have clashed on numerous occasions and the Tax Directorate, overseen by Sri Mulyani, is currently investigating alleged tax evasion involving three companies in the Bakrie group of companies.

National Mandate Party advisory council chairman Amien Rais has also called for both figures to step down.

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