Indonesia president to act on corruption scandal

Posted on November 23, 2009

Within minutes from now, President SBY will announce his decision on the controversial KPK (anti-graft body) vs Police known as Cicak vs Buaya (Lizard vs Crocodile).

Some foreign media take interests to this situation. This is what BBC has to say:

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is due to announce what action he will take on a high-level corruption scandal.

He has already warned Indonesian media it will be “controversial”.

The scandal has pitted the country’s anti-corruption agency against senior law enforcement officials.

An independent inquiry said the police case against two anti-corruption officials accused of extortion and abuse of power should be dropped.

The case caused public outrage when it emerged they could have been framed.

The two men – Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah – have been released, but the police and the attorney general’s office have so far refused to drop their case.

Public sympathy has been growing for the anti-corruption agency – known by its acronym KPK – with almost daily protests on the streets of Jakarta urging the president to act decisively.

Bloomberg meanwhile has a good title on this case, especially on President Sby position thus:
Indonesia’s Yudhoyono Hits ‘Tipping Point’ in Graft Case Row

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tonight will say how he plans to end a dispute between police and the anti-corruption agency that has caused a public outcry and threatens to undermine his record on combating graft.

“We’re at a tipping point right now,” said James van Zorge, principal at Jakarta-based risk consultancy Van Zorge, Heffernan & Associates. If Yudhoyono “does the wrong thing, you’ll see a lot of criticism and you’ll see how this will impact the international opinion about the president and this country as a place to do business,” he said.

Legal certainty in Indonesia is “the number one” issue that will go under scrutiny, Van Zorge said.

Filed Under Asides Tags: Indonesia, kpk, polri

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4 Comments »

Comment by akhlis

2009-11-23 14:49:03

SBY should thank God. He’s lucky enough since there’s no impeachment in Indonesian history.He proved himself to be much too slow in cleaning up the ‘mess’…so disappointing.

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