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Lawmaker Faces Ire for ‘Slander’ of PKB Chairman
Farouk Arnaz, Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho | September 12, 2011

Muhaimin Iskandar, the manpower and transmigration minister, arriving for a hearing with House Commission IX in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Thursday. The minister said he had no knowledge of the activities of two staff members suspected of graft. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Muhaimin Iskandar, the manpower and transmigration minister, arriving for a hearing with House Commission IX in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Thursday. The minister said he had no knowledge of the activities of two staff members suspected of graft. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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The National Awakening Party officially lodged a police complaint on Sunday against one of its own legislators for allegedly defaming the party’s chairman, an official said.

“We are officially reporting Lily Wahid for violating Criminal Code Article 310, 311 and Electronic and Transaction Law Article 27, Chapter 3, in relation to her remarks about the party’s chairman, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar,” said Anwar Rahman, head of the legal and human rights bureau of the party known as the PKB.

Anwar described Lily’s accusations that Muhaimin was involved in a bribery case involving his ministry as “baseless and slanderous.”

Lily earlier said it was impossible for Muhaimin to know nothing of the bribery reportedly plaguing his ministry.

“The PKB does not have much money, so there must be a bribe to buy a building as big as the party’s current central office,” she said last week.

She also said Muhaimin’s wife had received about Rp 20 billion ($2.3 million) in bribes.

“What she said is just slander, since the PPATK has declared that there is no indication that the PKB or Muhaimin’s wife were receiving bribes,” Anwar said, referring to the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center.

He said he was not representing Muhaimin personally. “This is about the PKB’s image. I am here to represent the PKB as an institution,” he said.

In a written statement, Lily apologized to the public on Sunday for her “inaccurate information on the suspicious flow of funds in the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.”

The lawmaker said she had received information from unreliable sources, adding that she was careless for disclosing that information to the media without first independently verifying it.

PKB House of Representatives faction chairman Marwan Jafar said the party would continue with its complaint to the police despite Lily’s statement.

“If she wants to make an apology, she should address it to the one she accused, our chairman, not to the public,” Marwan told the Jakarta Globe.

He said Lily should understand the allegations had defamed Muhaimin, the leader of the party, and that there would be consequences for the accusations she leveled.

“The process with the police will go on,” he said. “Her apology will not stop it.”

Farhat Abbas, the lawyer for Dharnawati, the businesswoman arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly providing Rp 1.5 billion in bribes to two ministry officials, said last week that the cash was intended as kickbacks for Muhaimin and legislators on the House’s Budget Committee.

Abdul Kadir Karding, a lawmaker and senior PKB official, accused Farhat of making false accusations against the party’s chairman.

“It’s just a political game,” Kadir said. “We don’t know what his motive is. We are not afraid of it because there’s no evidence for such a claim.”