Indonesia Still Has A Way To Go

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 Here is a story of high corruption in Indonesia.  Although the amounts involved are much, much smaller than here it is still considered big for Indonesia (because they are a poorer country). So the amounts required to trigger murders in Indonesia are far much less than here in Malaysia. 
This is a quick read, from Asia Sentinel. The same plots - dirty public officials and dirty Civil Servants, money, women, sex, organised crime etc. We have heard this before. Do read my comments at the end.



The chief bad guy

 

Indonesia’s National Police-sex-murder scandal involving the arrest of General Ferdy Sambo has dragged many of his colleagues into the vortex, including a beautiful policewoman rumored to be Sambo’s mistress amid other accusations that he was deeply involved in the gambling business and managing a crystal methamphetamine ring.

The two-star general, who formerly headed the internal affairs division, is accused of faking a shootout between a junior officer, Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, and his bodyguard Bharada Richard Eliezer in which Yosua was shot to death on July 8 on the pretext that Yosua was sexually harassing Sambo’s wife, Puteri Candrawati. (This was faked. There was no shooting. The autopsy showed Yosua was tortured and stabbed).

News of the killing emerged slowly amid allegations that as many as 30 officers including three police generals had helped to obscure evidence and cover it up. Apart from Sambo, three other people have been named directly as suspects in the murder, namely Bharada Eliezer, Bripka Ricky Rizal, and Kuat Ma'ruf, a driver who allegedly witnessed the shooting and helped to fake it. The four were charged with premeditated murder with a maximum penalty of death, or life imprisonment, or a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, the attorney for the dead officer’s family, said the motive for Yosua's murder actually was his knowledge that the general, one of the national police’s most-feared officials, was involved in the gambling business and the production of crystal meth. Yosua, the attorney charged, also reported Sambo’s alleged infidelity to Sambo’s wife. Other rumors say Yosua was caught having an affair with Puteri Candrawati, which triggered Sambo’s fury and the killing.

"There are other women's motives as well,” Kamaruddin said. “Yosua gave information to Puteri Candrawati that Sambo was going to his mistress's house." The mistress is alleged to be a beautiful police officer named Rita Yaliana (below), who has not commented on the issue. The 30-year-old police officer, who serves at the Directorate of Special Criminal Investigation, has been featured in scores of stories in the Jakarta press.  
 The other woman
  The case has shaken the national police to the core, with President Joko Widodo meeting personally with the chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, and telling him to clean up the force, which has long been described as one of the most corrupt and unprofessional in Southeast Asia. Many see the naming of Sambo as a murder suspect as a tough test for the institution because this is the first time a high-ranking officer has been identified as involved in a murder.

That has exposed a culture of violence and case engineering within the institution, which has occurred amid a culture of impunity in which cases are often fabricated amid torture and extrajudicial killings.

After Sambo was detained at the Police Headquarters, Listyo dissolved a special task force he chaired consisting of several high and middle-level officers, some of whom were involved in Yosua's death case.

Bambang Rukmino, an observer with the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies, said the case is not solely a matter of personnel, but of institutions. This incident, he said, involved cross-police units ranging from regional units, and detectives, to internal division. The National Police have examined at least 25 personnel suspected of violating the code of ethics in investigating the case, 12 of whom are currently being held in a special place.

Coordinating Minister for Political Law and Human Rights Mahfud MD said before the case became public, Sambo had created a "psychological trap" for some parties to make them believe Yosua had abused his wife. Sambo spread the false news, including to the National Police Commission, the Human Rights Commission, several members of the House of Representatives, and even some of his colleagues from the police.

"Not many people know that (there are) psychological traps for certain people to support shooting (scenarios)," said Mahfud MD. "He was crying in front of them as if he was a victim,"

Yosua's family found many irregularities including a changed date of the incident, several cuts on Yosua's body and two broken fingers. A re-autopsy was performed. The police then corrected the statements, saying there was no exchange of fire or allegations of sexual harassment.

The special team investigating the affair indicated suspicions that Putri's report of sexual harassment was part of the obstruction of justice to cover up the premeditated murder case against Yosua. The police are still investigating this allegation to determine Putri's status.

Bharada Eliezer's former attorney Deolipa Yumara said Putri and Sambo had promised to give Rp1 billion (U$68,178,000) to Bharada Eliezer and Rp 500 million each to Brigadiers Ricky and Kuat. According to the original plan, the money was to be given after the police buried the murder investigation. But unexpectedly the case received public scrutiny, the national police chief formed a special team, and their lies were exposed.

However, the attorney Kamaruddin Simanjuntak said the funds prepared by Sambo to cover this case reached Rp5 billion. "The information I got was that the funds prepared (by Sambo) were Rp5 billion. So apart from being (given) to the suspect, it was also prepared for people in other institutions," Simanjuntak said. Deputy Chairperson of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) Edwin Partogi revealed that one of his officers was given "thick envelopes" suspected of being bribes after meeting with Sambo, but he refused the bribe.

Sambo in his latest statement to the investigator stated that the murder was motivated by anger because Yosua had committed an act that "hurt the dignity" of his wife when they were in Magelang, a city about 500 km from Jakarta. Sambo, Putri, and Yosua, he stated, were in the city for several days, during which time Sambo and his wife also had a chance to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Sambo returned to Jakarta on July 7 by plane, while his wife and a number of bodyguards, including Yosua returned to Jakarta from Magelang the next day.  My comments:  Just like here in Malaysia there are two main parts to Indonesia. One is the government run part of the country like the Police in this story who are totally corrupted.  Plus the public sector in Indonesia which is still highly corrupted. And this part is often identified with the pribumi people of Indonesia.

The other part is the US1 Trillion private sector economy in Indonesia which is still largely identified with the Chinese immigrant population of Indonesia. They still run much of the businesses and the factories and industries in Indonesia.
Jokowi is a rare phenomenon in Indonesia - not corrupt, full of ideals and most importantly with a clear idea of what to do to move Indonesia forward. Plus he has an extremely capable team of Ministers who have similar ideals and visions. 
But they have a long way to go. Jokowi's term comes to an end soon (2024) and no one knows what will happen after that.  Did Jokowi bring permanent sunshine upon Indonesia or was he merely a break in the clouds?  In the case here, the dirty Police chief supplied the bribe (Indonesian Rp 5 Billion) from his own crystal meth business that he was managing. Indon Rp 5 Billion = USD341,000 or about RM1.5 Million. Peanuts in the Malaysian scale of bribes. But this was only a small portion of his crystal meth business. The whole system had to be involved.   
According to transparency.org data for 2020:

Indonesia ranks 96 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index.
92% of Indonesians think govt corruption is a big problem.
30% of indonesian public service users paid a bribe in the previous 12 months. They have some distance to go.  (The corresponding figures for Malaysia are  62/180 countries,  71% of people think government corruption is a big problem and 13% paid a bribe in the past 12 months. We have some distance to go as well).
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.By Syed Akbar Ali 

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