Indonesian Representatives, Lie to Me No More

By Yohanes Sulaiman & Weilin Han on 08:23 pm Apr 07, 2014

A while ago there was a TV series called “Lie to Me” where the main character, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth), was a psychologist helping law enforcement agents to analyze a suspect’s face and body movements to determine whether he or she was telling the truth.

Ahead of this year’s elections, hosts of TV programs and talkshows in Indonesia are suddenly turning into amateur psychologists. Walking in Lightman’s footsteps, they are analyzing people in similar ways, inviting experts to help reading gestures of various electoral candidates, interpreting and adding meanings, giving seals of approval and disapproval.

Those who felt threatened and humiliated by such analyses responded by claiming that the television hosts were campaigning against them. At the same time, those who were praised in the shows are using the analyses as marketing tools for self-promotion: to show what great candidates they are.

By the end of the day though, these analyses have no objective value. It’s pure entertainment. There is very little correlation between how candidates make gestures and whether they will perform well once they are elected (if that’s the case, then psychopaths would be the best presidents).

On the other hand, there is another familiar way to determine whether a candidate will do as he or she says. It is called a track record. The candidate has to prove what they have done and how they manage conflicts. He is expected to give evidence of his performance, and not what he wishes he had done. An academic CV and list of previous positions may be important as a gauge of a person’s qualifications, but they are less important than experience in actually getting something done.

To some degree though, it is possible to combine both Lightman’s method and actual track records during this year of campaigning. By this we mean that we are taking scores of candidates’ past promises and gestures and see if they keep those promises.

For instance, one promise that often comes up during the campaign is that education will be improved.

“I promise that education should be free and accessible for everyone,” “we have to increase our education quality,” “we will pay attention to the teacher’s welfare” — and many other promises are blurted out in order to garner votes. In reality, though, while officially education is free, people are still saddled with various fees: study trips fees, uniform fees, donations, etcetera.

Moreover, records show that in the last two years, our Education Ministry made many promises, only to break them: look at Kurikulum 2013-gate (K13). The ministry boasted that this curriculum was the only savior for our education system — just like an advertising quack with tales of countless cures to every imaginable disease.

Let us refresh your memory on the broken promises surrounding K13. During the K13 socialization process, it was said that the state would bear the costs for production and dissemination of the books, teachers would be very happy because they did not have to spend a lot of time developing lesson plans and assessments. And since K13 was a progressive curriculum, the state would also provide a new format of the report card, which would show the student’s capacity holistically.

Grade-10 students would take cross-stream subjects that they like instead of following a rigid schedule. The school would use their past report cards and psychological test to make decisions. K13 training would only be carried out by certified and qualified trainers who master the concepts. The list goes on and on.

Let us be fooled no more. In reality it is all business as usual. The original “free books” was just a teaser. Schools must purchase K13 books now. Available lesson plans (which are very poorly written) were samples and teachers in the end had to create their own lesson plans. At the same time, the problem is that most teachers don’t have any clue about how to create their own K13-based lesson plans because not only were trainings limited, the trainers also were not briefed and prepared ahead of time.

Report cards? Schools must be creative, right? So, be as creative as you like. Choosing your cross-stream subjects? The guideline provided during the training officially mentioned that the students could do that only in Grade 11 — and not 10 as boasted. Some schools obediently follow the former instruction and some follow the latter. Monitoring, who cares?

In the end, talk is cheap and people should keep the old adage in mind: Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

We have learned the hard way that those who made promises turned out luring us into muddier and murkier conditions — and, to make matters worse, they used our tax money to do so.

We should now use the limited time available to learn about the track records of candidates. Obviously, we can always just shrug, believing there is no use in voting. Or, we can think that they are all liars anyway. But are you sure you want to lose your chance? Have we not learned to reject stiff-necked crooks?

We use our time to learn about candidates, because we don’t want to have ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing representing us.

Yohanes Sulaiman is a lecturer at the Indonesian Defense University (Unhan).
Weilin Han is a teacher-trainer and school consultant.

An Eventful Year for Indonesia

---
An Eventful Year for Indonesia
Yohanes Sulaiman | December 27, 2012

With the new year closing in fast, let’s take a look at some of the most important domestic events hitting headlines this past year, and how they may affect us in the next.

Strength in numbers

The labor union might have legitimate grievances in its decision to blockade the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road last January. But it also set a terrible precedent by making it clear that the best way to force the government to do whatever you want is to cause massive traffic jams. Moreover, the government’s unwillingness to crack down on law-breaking protesters gave a signal to everyone that the government would not arrest anyone as long as they have strength in numbers.

Thus, while street demonstrations are not that uncommon after the fall of the New Order, this year marked a significant increase in the number of huge demonstrations that brought the traffic to a standstill.

The problem, aside of massive economic cost from lost time and gasoline and jittery investors having second thoughts about investing in Indonesia, these huge demonstrations also had an adverse effect of essentially stressing the idea of “might makes right.” Rather than contributing to the creation of stable democratic institutions, these demonstrations make a mockery of the rule of law and proper channels for grievances — the courts and the legislature.

Of course the blame goes both ways. It could be argued that people were forced to hit the streets as the government, the court system and the parliament were notoriously unresponsive to people’s concerns about economic injustices and bad policies, undermining the people’s trust in the first place. It could also be easily argued the government was unable to communicate its policies effectively with the people, making it easy for the provocateurs to whip up public sentiment to the detriment of government policies.

Either way, the toll road blockade marked a complete collapse of public trust in the government and the government’s ineffectual response to the blockade set a bad precedent for years to come.

‘Shock therapy’

The unlikely victory of Joko Widodo and Basuki T. Purnama in the Jakarta gubernatorial election jolted both regular Indonesians and the political elite alike. Apparently a pair of candidates with good track records could beat the establishment candidates backed by the political parties and their money machines.

This campaign also marked the power of the Internet, especially social media, in Indonesian elections. A strong, enthusiastic grassroots support could provide a strong countermeasure to ugly black campaigns that tried to bring up the divisive issues of ethnicity, race and religion.

More importantly, this election also stressed the need for the candidates to maintain self-discipline to win the race. We saw how Nachrowi Ramli self-destructed on national television during the gubernatorial debate. That, in essence, gave the election away to Jokowi-Ahok, despite Fauzi Bowo’s own respectable performance in the debate.

After the election, given the public’s high expectations of the victorious pair, Jokowi-Ahok also perform remarkably well. In spite of some complaints regarding Jokowi’s predilection to travel a lot, visiting Jakarta’s kampongs, and Ahok’s anger management problem, people remain ecstatic as the two manage to show the public that they are working hard to solve Jakarta’s massive problems.

The pair also enjoyed national adoration as Indonesians were supporting their  “shock therapy” — well-deserved public humiliation of what people saw as arrogant and out-of-touch bureaucrats. Not surprisingly, the two are possibly the most popular politicians in Indonesia today, though the sentiment seems not to be shared by many of Jakarta’s local parliamentarians or bureaucrats that are on the receiving edge of the “shock therapy.”

Angelina and the Democrats

Muhammad Nazaruddin’s claims of massive corruption within the ruling Democratic Party was vindicated with the arrest and trial of Angelina Sondakh over the  long-running Southeast Asian Games athletes village bribery scandal.

After the indictment of Angelina, more and more people were implicated in the scandal, including Andi Mallarangeng, the sports and youth affairs minister, who decided to leave both the ministry and the Democratic Party early this month.

While Andi’s guilt is not certain, the indictment of so many parliamentarians and other Democrats has put the party on the defensive. Opinion polls suggest people no longer trust the party’s commitment to eradicate corruption and many will abandon it ahead of the 2014 elections.

With the electoral field wide open, there are possibilities that small parties, especially Prabowo Subianto’s Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), which already received a significant boost for backing Jokowi-Ahok, could reap the benefits, as people are looking for figures seen as decisive enough to combat massive corruption.

KPK under fire

This year is also marked by a concerted assault on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) — by both lawmakers and the police force. First, the parliament decided to release the draft of the revised KPK law that would significantly curtail some of the KPK’s powers, notably its ability to conduct wiretaps on suspected corruptors and their accomplices and to prosecute corruptors. The draft also called for the creation of a KPK Supervisory Council, whose members were selected by the parliament itself. Many believed that the council would in the end meddle with the KPK’s affairs so much that the commission would be made irrelevant.

Later, the police, angered over a KPK investigation into the driving simulator procurement graft case, attempted to arrest Novel Baswedan, the head of the KPK’s investigation team, over an old, dubious case. When that didn’t work, the police decided to pull their investigators from the KPK, significantly weakening its ability to investigate corruption cases.

The public uproar over this case was such that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to step into the fray to stress his support for the KPK. By staking his reputation on this, however, the embattled president will receive the lion’s share of the blame should the KPK end up emasculated. And that will harm his ability to influence the election to pick his successor in 2014.

---

Normalaatsra

4:06pm Dec 27, 2012

And FPIxMUI are not mentioned.

Yohanes-Sulaiman

5:19pm Dec 27, 2012

...and that stupid sandal trial, etc., etc.,etc. Some of them due to the lack of space. But, the goal of the article is to identify four most important events of 2012 -- and nNothing new about MUI and FPI -- they have caused troubles for years and years already and especially the latter, the government never develops enough backbone to tackle them. Not that they are unimportant, but nothing "new" about them in 2012. That's all.

GlobalCitizen

1:12am Feb 28, 2013

FPI and MUI are nothing but organization of terrorists who promote terrorism. Period! They are hiding behind the religion while actually they tarnish the religion like hell.

Corruption: Koran Scandal Shows It’s Time to Clean House

---
Corruption: Koran Scandal Shows It’s Time to Clean House
Yohanes Sulaiman | July 09, 2012

Is nothing sacred anymore? That’s a predictable reaction upon hearing that the Corruption Eradication Commission has named Golkar Party legislator Zulkarnaen Djabar a suspect in a graft case related to the procurement of Korans at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. 

This entire scandal again feeds the perception of our politicians being so out of touch with ordinary people and having such self-importance that they think themselves to be above the law — not only the law of the state but also the law of the divine. 

As usual, everyone expressed their shock, surprise, anger and contrition over the whole sordid affair. 

Kemas Roni, the lead prosecutor of the antigraft body, known as the KPK, declared his shock that someone was audacious enough to steal money from a Koran procurement project. 

Nasaruddin Umar, the deputy minister of religious affairs, said he was surprised that the scandal had happened in his ministry, adding that he had made it clear to ministry officials that corruption would not be tolerated. 

Golkar, seeing that this scandal has the potential to wreck its plans for the general elections in 2014, has already moved into damage-control mode with Nurul Arifin, the party’s deputy secretary general, asking Zulkarnaen to at least temporarily step down from the House of Representatives. 

Irianto Syafiudin, the head of Golkar’s West Java branch, was more blunt, calling for Zulkarnaen to be fired. 

Zulkarnaen cried mea culpa . The entire case, he said, was a warning from God that he needed to increase his “vertical communication.” 

By the close of play, however, life will likely go on as it has these past few years. Already Abdul Karim, an official in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, has accused the media of blowing up the case and insinuated that certain interested parties were trying to discredit the ministry. He warned that should the ministry be closed down, Muslims would suffer. 

That reaction suggests the ministry is more interested in saving itself than cleaning up its act. This despite the fact that the Koran procurement scandal is no doubt only the tip of the corruption iceberg in the ministry. 

Take the example of the corruption allegations surrounding the hajj pilgrimage organized by the ministry. As early as 2009, Indonesia Corruption Watch uncovered evidence suggesting money set aside for the pilgrimage had been misappropriated. 

On Jan. 6, 2009, the anticorruption watchdog reported that Muhammad Maftuh Basyuni, at the time the religious affairs minister, improperly received hundreds of millions of rupiah from the hajj pilgrimage fund. 

Considering how much money is involved in the hajj management program — about Rp 39 trillion ($4.1 billion) — the Rp 35 billion Koran procurement scandal is peanuts by any reasonable comparison. But despite the accumulating evidence, the investigation in the management of the pilgrimage has gone nowhere, even though the KPK itself on Nov. 29, 2011, declared the Ministry of Religious Affairs to be the most corrupt institution in Indonesia. 

In addition, there have been revelations that lawmakers from House Commission VIII, which oversees religious affairs, received thousands of Korans from the ministry. While Ida Fauziah, the head of Commission VIII, argued that distributing Korans was a good deed, the problem is that receiving them for free from the ministry smacks of conflict of interest and is certainly morally questionable. 

In most democratic nations, rules are made to address these kinds of issues, imposing limits and bans on gifts that a lawmaker can receive from any government or non-government institution. 

One cannot help but notice that efforts to clean up the hajj fund management have stalled in the House. 

The legislature has not approved the creation of a commission to supervise the hajj pilgrimage and there is no law in place to regulate the management of the pilgrimage fund. 

With so much money flying around and the credibility of both the House and the Ministry of Religious Affairs at stake, both institutions would be well advised to start cleaning up their houses and behaving more transparently. And at the same time, they should avoid anything that could be construed as a conflict of interest. 

-------

Yakty-yak

11:57am Jul 10, 2012

@Yohanes I immensely enjoy your candor and analysis, however your conclusions are, invariably, always the same, namely, expecting the very malfeasant politicians, parties, institutions, and bureaucratic agencies that systematically perpetuate these corrupt practices to clean up their own mess:

"....both institutions would be well advised to start cleaning up their houses and behaving more transparently."

This conclusion, like many similar ones you've expressed previously, that call upon the National Police, AGO, DPR, similar actors to "clean up their own house - is naive at best, academic apathy at worst.

Its not the the latter as you come across as an intellectual activist in the best sense of the spirit but your conclusions belie your analysis. These institutions have zero incentive to "increase transparency"; and given the impotence and complicity of Indonesia's regulatory/enforcement bodies the shadows in which these corrupt practices exist will only grown longer.

exbrit

12:31pm Jul 10, 2012

It has been time to clean house for a long time but there is a shortage of cleaners. The birds of a feather are already downplaying the case, worrying that they may be next in line. As Yohanes Sulaiman suggests, nothing is likely to change because the house is not serious about cleansing itself

Yohanes-Sulaiman

2:20pm Jul 10, 2012

@Yakty-yak: Thanks for your comments. I am aware that people are starting to get tired of my tireless and tiresome suggestions for the institutions to self-reform.

Frankly, I am tempted to just advocate the Ministry of Religion to abolish itself, because I find that it creates more troubles than it worth, but that might draw lots of trolls from the woodwork.

Plus, I kinda find it useful to soften the blows from my criticisms that sometimes some people find rattling and it seems that such ending is expected, if you read the op-ed in Indonesian newspapers.

Still, I have to concede that I personally am also tired of having that kind of ending.

Probably it is best, next time, if I get rid the redundant last paragraph "advise" and just focus on the analysis.

@exbrit: shortage of cleaners and everyone profits under this stupid system.

Normalaatsra

4:39pm Jul 10, 2012

Time for another reshuffle

Yakty-yak

8:07am Jul 11, 2012

@Yohanes: To reiterate I very much enjoy your writings and analysis. My intention was to simply highlight a relatively weak conclusion at odds with the balance of your spot-on analysis. Regardless of audience I would strongly encourage you to finish with a bite rather than a whimper to drive your analysis home, critics and trolls be damned. As the saying goes "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".

By the way I do occasionally read bahasa op-ed pages but primarily that of Tempo, which doesn't shy away either in its analysis or conclusions of calling out those that are shamelessly corrupt regardless of reaction - as evidenced by past aggressions.

Keep up your writings.

Pelan2

9:29am Jul 11, 2012

@Yohanes - With the current and next generation, going into government service, having known nothing but this style of corrupt leadership, where does Pak Yohanes expect the change to come from, and from which segment of the society - Trims.. PS Thanks for your articles, always good to read..

Yohanes-Sulaiman

1:23pm Jul 11, 2012

Thanks to both Pelan2 and Yakty-yak for your kind comments.

@Yakty-yak: I will try to address those nice criticism in my next article, hopefully up in a few days.

@Pelan2: The change should come from two sides: the top and the bottom -- on the bottom side, the professionalization of a couple of NGOs, notably ICW is a much welcomed development, and we need more grass root movement pushing for accountability. Unfortunately what often happens is that the NGOs are sloppy in both their researches and/or pretty ineffective in garnering public support outside of just the general idea of anti-corruption.

From the top, I still believe that leadership matters, that a strong executive could help shaping the system. Unfortunately, they are cut from the same piece of cloth and as a result, we don't have too many good people on the top.

In Death Call, Anas Doth Protest Too Much

------
In Death Call, Anas Doth Protest Too Much
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | March 15, 2012

Anas Urbaningrum’s statement on Twitter expressing his willingness to be executed by firing squad if it is proved he took even a single rupiah connected to a scandal related to the Southeast Asian Games and Hambalang stadium graft cases is to be welcomed. Finally someone in the government has expressed the view that corruption is a crime of such a serious nature that it ranks alongside terrorism, drug trafficking and murder as a means of undermining social cohesion and the dignity of the nation, all of which invite the death penalty under the law.

Given the ridiculously low prison sentences handed out to corrupters, mitigated further by remissions and perks, the public has long felt these sentences hardly fit the crime. Nor do they serve as deterrents.

Furthermore, the judges who hand them down could reasonably be seen as either frightened of those found guilty and fearful of what they might do in retribution once released or suspected to be complicit in deals favorable towards the accused.

Anas has dramatically drawn a line in the sand in the investigation of corruption and the punishment given. Although he stands by his repeated claims of innocence, he now says should it be found otherwise (namely that he has perjured himself, lied to the public or stolen from the public purse), he requests that he be executed.

Anas is known to be a man who publicly states elevated principles calling for reform and integrity in politics. He belongs to the Democratic Party, which came to power on the promise of fighting and eradicating corruption. In a speech given on May 16, 2010, when he was deputy chairman of political and regional affairs for the Democratic Party, Anas said: “Money politics is the main challenge to democratic culture and erodes organizational culture. Even money politics will mislead us to a negative pragmatism in its starkest form. Negating meritocracy, money politics will put an end to the spirit of high achievement.”

Quoting President Yudhoyono approvingly, Anas said that “money politics constituted a serious challenge to democracy as it would affect the attitude and behavior of a leader at the expense of public interests. Money politics produces artificial democracy while betraying public trust and democratic conscience.”

Having stressed his opposition to money politics, he then went on to promote his agenda of putting meritocracy as the main pillar of democracy, arguing that meritocracy is critical in building the culture of democracy as it would produce competent leaders who are forged by experience, rooted in the society, and accepted by the public.

For Anas, “meritocracy” means that a person achieves a political position based on merit: ability, intelligence and expertise rather than on what he identified as the “strong spirit of sub-nationalism,” which not only included “narrow regionalism, religious fanaticism, or a strong identity of a group of interests, but rather it is the tendency to give prominence to the identity and interests of smaller entities at the expense of the nation’s identity and interests.”

Anas stated that the presence of self-interest in politics provides only disincentives for aspiring politicians to manifest their capabilities or merit, “when appreciation in an organization is given to non-meritocratic aspects like money and ascribed status.”

A few days later, in the second congress of the Democratic Party in Bandung in May 2010, Anas won the chairmanship during a bitterly contested two-ballot election in which he beat his rivals Andi Mallarangeng and Marzuki Alie. Having beaten Andi, whom many had suspected of receiving the blessing of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the first ballot, Anas announced, prior to the second ballot, that if elected he would appoint Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono as his deputy. He won the second round, announcing that he won through a democratic election, presumably based on his merits.

Since that speech and conference, the Democratic Party’s former treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, has testified in court that Anas profited from the construction of Southeast Asian Games structures in Palembang and Hambalang and that Anas used this money to secure votes from party members at the election in Bandung. If this proves to be the case, and Anas strenuously denies the accusations, it would put his pre-election speech about meritocracy in the shade.

Now he will soon be summoned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and be given the opportunity, before law, to clarify and resolve the issue. He has already indicated his intention to take the matter seriously, even to the point of giving up his life if there is any truth in the allegations.

Yet, there is a hitch, notably the problems with legal precedents. Indonesian law does not extend the death sentence to the heinous crime of corruption, and the government often does a horrible job in ensuring that the rules are grounded with strong legal basis.

For instance, last November, facing public uproar on the lenient sentences given to convicted corrupters, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights declared a moratorium on giving remissions (in the form of sentence reductions) to the corruptors.

Last week, however, having been challenged by three convicted corrupters and after intervention by former Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the moratorium was declared in breach of the law on community rehabilitation. Apparently, having unveiled the moratorium with gongs and whistles, nobody made sure it had a legal basis.

Indonesian politics is grounded in a culture of grand statements, assurances and promises that are often conveniently ignored when it’s time to deliver on them.

No rational person would take Anas’s vow seriously. Nor in a civilized society would anyone wish to see the death penalty imposed on anyone for any crime, for that matter. Surely any rational person would understand his melodramatic language as hyperbole, as Anas’s claim to complete innocence.

Nevertheless, Anas has miscalculated in his appeal for public support. The use of intemperate language is something he now has the embarrassment of explaining, one way or the other.

Perhaps Anas, the man of merit, should take a leaf out of Napoleon’s book. “If you wish to be successful in this world, promise everything, deliver nothing,” the French leader said.

Napoleon also said: “The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.”

The emperor, who overstepped himself, had his merits too. Let’s hope Anas maintains his in the eyes of the public and fares better.

Angelina Makes a Mockery of Justice While President and Party Look On

Four months later, in July 2012, the President again stressing that blah..blah...blah.... You know the drill.
-----
Angelina Makes a Mockery of Justice While President and Party Look On
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | March 07, 2012

Last week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tried to reiterate his supposed commitment to fighting corruption when he signed off on new punishments for graft convicts. The so-called impoverishment program would impose substantial fines upon offenders, aiming to ensure that they and their families can’t enjoy even a single rupiah of any ill-gotten wealth.

It sounds all well and good, but at this point the president’s move seems more like a last-ditch, cosmetic effort to prevent his own popularity, and that of his beleaguered Democratic Party, from tanking further.

If the public had any doubts about widespread corruption among the Democrats and the party’s general lack of commitment to cleaning up the nation’s politics, following due process and helping the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) do its job, those doubts must have evaporated with graft suspect Angelina Sondakh’s recent appearance at the House of Representatives.

Despite previous assurances by the Democratic Party politician and her superiors that she would stand aside while investigations were under way, Angelina has done anything but. Most disturbingly, she had the gall to sit in on a legislative session.

In a speech on Feb. 5, after Angelina was named a suspect, Yudhoyono said all party members who had been named suspects by the KPK must step down.

The next day, party official Didi Irawadi Syamsudin promised that the Democrats would “soon” issue the decree suspending Angelina, saying, “While the investigation is under way, we will suspend her from all posts. It’s just a matter of administrative process before we do so officially.”

Angelina did lose her position as deputy secretary general of the party. Yet on Feb. 14, she remained seated in the legislature. Adding insult to injury, she was moved from her position on House Commission X on youth and sports affairs to Commission III on legal affairs.

Such a thoughtless move, presented to the public as nothing more than a regular rotation, was not surprisingly met with an uproar. KPK head Abraham Samad said he would not attend any Commission III meetings if Angelina was present.

Yudhoyono predictably blew his top and berated party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and House faction leader Jafar Hafsah for such a politically incompetent act.

The party later backtracked, with Saan Mustopa, the secretary of the Democrats in the House, claiming the transfer was only “planned” even though in several interviews Jafar had used the word “already.” Angelina ended up on Commission VIII, which deals with religious affairs.

Of course, as usual, there was no discussion at all on either the president’s order that KPK suspects resign or Didi’s promise that Angelina would soon be suspended from all her posts.

No doubt we will be told the paperwork hasn’t been processed, that it’s only the labyrinths of committees and bureaucratic processes and signatures to be got that is holding this up. Hence Angelina’s right to attend legislative sessions at the House, even as she is questioned in court for graft.

Even Angelina seems to think things have returned to normal. Although she should step down immediately and await the court’s pleasure, she called a press conference to ask reporters to respect her silence on the matters before the court.

She has already been advised both judicially and publicly to tell the truth and to understand the seriousness of perjury. She has also given her word that she would accept a suspension. Instead, she not only turned up at the House for business as usual but she also asked the press to get off her back.

Angelina may have gained a temporary immunity from justice, bestowed upon her by those who have not processed her suspension papers or were impressed by her performance in front of the camera. But the steady hands of time are ticking away, and like her namesake in Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comic opera “Trial by Jury,” Angelina definitely and unmistakably will soon hear those fateful words breaking the silence she craves: “Angelina, come thou into court.”

There, the former maxim of the law, “qui tacet consentire videtur” (“he who keeps silent is taken to consent”) — or, in other words, those who keep silent cannot be found guilty — no longer applies.

Yet Angelina does not appear to understand the gravity of her situation. And she is not alone in this.

Recently, House Speaker Marzuki Alie went on the record as saying, “I think there is something wrong with the way we work.”

We presume the irony of his statement was lost on him. But it’s not lost on the public, which is fed up with the stonewalling and obfuscation of politicians and their faceless advisers who treat the citizens of Indonesia with patronizing condescension. It simply won’t do. The electorate is becoming more and more politically astute, informed and outraged.

The way things were done in the past had one intention only — leaving people with a sense of soothed feelings and a curious sense of being unable to recall exactly what explanation was given. To politicians wedded to the past and its mentalities — whatever their age — that attitude will prove their ruin, especially when the public no longer trusts the “bapaks” after so many public relations blunders, lies and court sentences.

Angelina can expect to be given every benefit of law and justice; this is her right. In the meantime, however, she must do everything in her power to cooperate transparently with the processes in motion and in a spirit of justice rather than playing fast and loose with the letter of the law, which has somehow allowed her to sit in the House at the same time she is under serious investigation for robbing the constituents it is her job and duty to serve.

Angelina should stand aside and the president and his party should ensure that she does. If not, the developing sense of contempt for the ruling Democratic Party will only become more entrenched.

For the integrity of the country’s political system, not to mention the survival of whatever credibility it still holds, the Democratic Party must see to it that corruption does not go unpunished.

----

Comello

1:25pm Mar 7, 2012

'...qui tacet consentire videtur — or, in other words, those who keep silent cannot be found guilty...'

I guess you meant the opposite: by keeping silent, the presumption is that the charges against her are correct, ergo she is guilty.

Or: nolo contendere...


serenityjam

2:02pm Mar 7, 2012

Perhaps, our legislators need to be reminded about courtesy to the office of the president and as titular head of the dominant political party. Angelina Sondakh could have been prevented from embarrassing the president and the Democratic Party if she was told earlier before her "unwanted presence".

What were the party officers thinking? Angelina, on her own to preserve whatever decency is still left with her, could have gained some sympathy regardless of the accusations against her if she simply disappears for a while like taking an official leave of absence. That is the polite thing to do in this situation. Oh, well, does she know this? I don't think so.

exbrit

2:18pm Mar 7, 2012

Why doesn't the KPK just arrest her as they promised to do and and end this farce? They are claiming paperwork delays also

devine

2:31pm Mar 7, 2012

In my opinion she acts like a small child; all the others did it too so I can do it too... why they only go after me when everybody does the same...

The worst thing is, that they never ever even get slightly embarresed...

padt

3:10pm Mar 7, 2012

Comello - in effect what you are saying is true because we played with the phrase. Angelina asked the reporters to allow her to keep silent - but eventually she will not be able to remain silent as she will be required to speak up in court.

There - the old maxim of the law is no longer, in this day and age - permitted as a defence.

It was famously - and correctly used of course - in the infamous trial of Sir Thomas More. More took great care not to speak against the King's claims. He insisted that if he said nothing he could not be found guilty. At his trail, saying nothing could not legally be interprested as opposition to the Kings unlawful claims which contradicted both Magna Carta and his coronation oath: on the contrary, More's silence could only be interprested as indicating consent to those claims.

But of course, he was not being tried for that reason. The move against him was vindictively personal and to scare anyone else who dared act with any integrity.

DrDez

3:53pm Mar 7, 2012

exB - baffles me also

devine

11:30pm Mar 7, 2012

Noted that NONE of them "up there" (DPR) immediately gets arrested? Another privilige! As a matter in fact they should be the FIRST to be arrested!

DrDez; maybe she wore halfe a mini skirk and made everybody confused?

Asoegenie

7:59am Mar 8, 2012

Angelina's "immunity" is due to the fact that she has the highest, most powerful Connections in this country. I believe she was paid an enormous amount of money just to keep silent.

Yohanes-Sulaiman

6:06pm Mar 8, 2012

@all: Thank you for your comments. On exbrit and devine's comments, all I can do in reply is to quote George Orwell's Animal Farm, in which he wrote "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."

That, sadly, is the condition of our country at this point, where justice is swift for someone who supposedly steal a pair of sandals, but it grinds ever so slowly for someone who steals billions of rupiahs.

Valkyrie

6:42pm Mar 8, 2012

I continue to feel that Angie is not the primary target. KPK wants the bogeyman.

KPK has a prima facie case of corruption to place Angie in the slam. There has to be a good reason for not doing so.

devine

7:22pm Mar 8, 2012

Val; why cant they go after the bogeyman if the lock away Angelina? I just dont like this special treatment for some and no compromise for others... that is just not how it should work. I think it is not good for the reputation of KPK either...

padt

8:01pm Mar 8, 2012

I am having a gin and tonic and listening to Victoria de Los Angeles singing 'Un Bel Di Vedremo" (One Fine Day) from Madame Butterfly by the maestro Puccini.

I never understood this aria until it dawned on me that, after repeated listening, the words of the aria (positive) went in opposite direction the the music(negative).

Butterfly sings the lyrics that her husband loves her and will return - the music says he does not love you and he will not return.

Indonesian politics.

This music is played out every day in Indonesia.

My pembanto loves Puccini. And Beethoven. And Mozart.

"Why dont we have this music in our culture?" she asks. You have Malls and glamourous people and politicians, I tell her.

She loves Mozart's Requieum and Verdi's Requiem. "Can I have the CD played at my funeral, she asks?"

No. We come from different worlds.But I will play them in our house.

She seems to have some idea that what you do in this world affects what happens after. I tell her - its about love.

padt

8:05pm Mar 8, 2012

Yohanes sums it up. I would say it differently. Its all about the bull that is in the room that no one will mention and that a fish rots from its head down.

facepalm

8:32pm Mar 8, 2012

@padt: you sound like a genuinely lovely person. Enjoy that G&T.

andriparjoko

9:24pm Mar 8, 2012

I thought it' s a nice show. How can I subscribe for this drama? please anyone tells me and also how much it takes cost.

I would to know that.

Only A burn Child dread the fire. and all at nerve They're wo**e more than kids.