Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come to the defense of opposition legislators after the police monitored parties probing the government's policy on rice imports.
Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said Yudhoyono "very much regretted" the police monitoring of legislators conducting an independent probe of the imports, and ordered legal action to ensure it was stopped. "The President has high regard for the rights of legislators and the House of Representatives," Mallarangeng said.
The dispute between the House and the police broke out Tuesday when a letter from Jakarta Police director of security intelligence Sr. Comr. Handoko ordering the operation was leaked to the public.
The police had deployed intelligence officers to question Tamsil Linrung from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) at the House.
Tamsil heads the investigation team consisting of the government's political opponents from PKS and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Last month, the House of Representatives voted against an opposition resolution to investigate the government's plan to import 110,000 tons of medium-grade rice from Vietnam, prompting PDI-P and PKS to begin their own probe.
"Upon reading media reports this morning, the President ordered the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Widodo Adi Sucipto) to check and take all necessary measures, including punishing those who erred," Mallarangeng said.
The Jakarta Police moved quickly on the order from the President. Five police intelligence officers who had begun the investigation were questioned.
Spokesman for the Jakarta Police Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said the questioning focused on their investigation and on how the document was leaked.
Widodo also called a top level meeting with officials under his coordination, including National Police chief Gen. Sutanto, sparking a blame game among officials over who gave the order for the monitoring.
Sutanto denied Jakarta Police chief Ins. Gen. Firman Gani's claim the intelligence operation was carried out at the order of the National Police chief.
He maintained the order to monitor legislators' activities came from the Jakarta Police Headquarters. He said he believed the police officers were assigned to safeguard the politicians, not to spy on them.
"The Jakarta Police Headquarters are concerned that the latest political development in the House could cause security problems and they had the initiative to collect the necessary information," he told journalists. "Such jobs as investigating the rice import are risky and therefore we have to... protect them," Sutanto added.
The outraged House leadership filed a complaint Wednesday with the National Police. "They must explain to us about this unacceptable policy," deputy chairman Zaenal Maarif from the Reform Star Party said.
Tjahjo Kumolo, who chairs the PDI-P faction, said that his faction also filed a protest with Sutanto about the issue. "It's just as though we are living under the New Order administration, which used intelligence officers to spy on politicians with different point of views from the government," he said, referring to the Soeharto regime.