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India Porn Scandal Holds Important Lesson for Indonesia's PKS
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | February 16, 2012Last week, three ministers from Karnataka state in India resigned their positions after having been accused of watching a pornographic video during an assembly session. Even though the three ministers denied the accusation, claiming that they were only watching a video of a rave party, their Bharatiya Janata Party flatly ordered them to resign, lest its name be tarnished.
The Indian scandal should ring a bell in Indonesia. Last year, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Arifinto was caught by a photographer watching pornography on a tablet PC during a plenary meeting at the House of Representatives on April 8. This case triggered a public uproar — as Arifinto’s party was behind the notorious anti-pornography law — but unlike the Indian scenario, it would take no less than half a year before he would be out of the House.
Both India’s BJP and the PKS here are known for their brands of religious fanaticism. The BJP, for instance, was widely criticized for its tolerance of Hindu radicals and its right wing was deemed to be responsible for clashes with the Muslim minority in India. The PKS, on the other hand, supports Mayor Diani Budiarto of Bogor, who has shown contempt for the Constitution by ignoring a Supreme Court ruling in the ongoing GKI Yasmin controversy there.
The similarity, however, ends here. While the BJP forced its ministers to pack their bags immediately, the PKS allowed the Arifinto scandal to linger.
How is this possible and what does it mean for the future of Indonesia’s most prominent Islam-based party?
Arifinto’s defense was that he had received an e-mail from an anonymous person. He said he opened an attachment, which turned out to contain pornography, but pictures suggested otherwise.
Amid public pressure, Arifinto said he would resign: “As a pioneer in my party, I am drawn to take responsibility [for my actions] for the sake of the continuity and good image of my party.”
The announced resignation brought Arifinto praise and admiration from all quarters. Deputy House Speakers Pramono Anung and Priyo Budi Santoso lauded him and suggested he was a model of responsibility and accountability for other politicians, all too rare these days.
Facing inquiries from the press on whether he was really resigning, Arifinto was quoted as saying: “I am serious. If the PKS asks me to write a letter of resignation ... I will do it right away.”
But things turned bizarre when, on April 29, Arifinto turned up at the House for work as usual. He announced that his letter of resignation had been submitted to the PKS and had to be approved by the party’s executive board and the General Elections Commission (KPU). After that, the next stage would be the OK from the Home Affairs Ministry, before moving on to the State Secretariat and finally the presidential nod and signature.
By this time it seemed that Arifinto had changed his mind and his tactics. Shifting responsibility for his resignation away from himself and onto his party, he decided to play for time. This way he might stall or even renege on his promise by relying on the notoriously slow and inefficient Indonesian bureaucracy.
Not surprisingly, House leaders began to get fidgety as Arifinto’s antics didn’t make them look good. On top of that, he appeared to be challenging their role in the protocols. Arifinto continued to claim that as long as his resignation had not been processed and the president had not signed off on it, he would stay on. And presumably he continued to draw a salary.
Things remained as they were until May 5, when the PKS announced that Mardani would replace Arifinto. Mustafa Kamal, PKS leader at the House, said Mardani would take up his post somewhere “in the immediate future.”
Yet months went by before on Sept. 9, House Speaker Marzuki Alie complained that Arifinto was still considered an “active lawmaker” and drawing a salary. Rather than taking responsibility as the speaker of the legislature, Marzuki blamed the PKS for not taking any action.
On Oct. 20, Mardani was finally inaugurated at the House, and Arifinto was out. But by allowing the process to take several months, our representatives made a mockery of the idea that politicians have to own up to their actions.
For the BJP, the pornographic scandal was intolerable. It went against its credibility and morality as a Hindu nationalist party — especially in the face of potentially losing precious votes in the prosperous Karnataka state. For the no-less-moralistic, Islam-based PKS, however, it seems that its pornographic scandal was just a minor inconvenience.
This difference in attitude is exactly the reason why the BJP is India’s second-largest party, while the PKS remains small. This is unlikely to change: Indonesia may have to tolerate a certain amount of hypocrisy in politics, but voters won’t stimulate the practice at the polls.
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quas
11:28am Feb 16,
2012
devine
11:54am Feb 16,
2012
didikarjadi
12:13pm Feb 16,
2012
padt
6:41pm Feb 16,
2012
Perhaps they are.
Perhaps a vote here is worthless - that the elctoral system is such that the people who end up in the House are put there by the Parties and their rich backers not the voice of the people expressed in the ballot box.
In other places politicians who act like this are chucked out by the public - and the politicians live in fear of it.
Not much fear of voter backlash in Indonesia. A fair bit of scorn and contempt seems to be the way politicians act.
I saw this in action at the airport once.
One of Indonesia's 'best' and honest politicians walked though the terminal. I watched her intently. She looked at the public as if they were scum and smelt. Not a smile, not a word to anyone, not any acknowledgment of anyone. She walked by with an arrogant look on her face and her head held high. And she's supposed to be one of the best.
devine
8:11pm Feb 16,
2012
DrDez
8:32pm Feb 16,
2012
Interesting... In 2nd free election (sic) a man I had known for many years ran with Golkar. I thought him a decent man, good to his workers, family and all round good egg
One evening he had people 'round' prior to his election including Bu n I. After all the usual stuff (lots of spirts BTW) everyone went, as we went to go he asked me what I thought. I asked him about his policies (which I expected us to be listening to)
His answer was 'oh we can sort that out once Im in the house'... so I asked what was the purpose of tonight - His answer with a big smile... 'to guage how much I will need to borrow to get elected'... since then he has gone on to be a decent member of the house I think - I cannot help notice however his massively increased and obvious wealth - from 7 Series BMW's to at least 3 luxury homes in less than a decade... Impressive stuff
devine
9:13pm Feb 16,
2012
Yohanes-Sulaiman
7:31am Feb 17,
2012
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