Armando Siahaan – It was only months ago that the country was mesmerized by the PT Bank Century bailout saga. But now, with no end in sight, public and political attention has simply disappeared.
A group of lawmakers alleged that the Rp 6.7 trillion ($743.7 million) government bailout of the collapsing Bank Century in 2008 was riddled with irregularities, prompting a probe by the House of Representatives.
The House eventually voted that the bailout had violated the law, and a group of lawmakers sought to bring down Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati over the decision to rescue the lender.
But the House resolution was not legally binding. The next step was a formal investigation by the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), with legislators only able to monitor the progress of the case.
"There is a systematic effort to cover up the Bank Century case," said Bambang Soesatyo, from the Golkar Party, who has been a vocal member of the group of nine lawmakers who initiated the probe into the contentious bailout.
Bambang said law enforcers had failed to execute the mandate from the legislature to investigate the case because of political intervention by the government. As a result, he alleged, law enforcers have buried the Century scandal and have created diversions by hyping other cases.
"The National Police are preoccupied with Ariel's case," Bambang said, referring to the Peterpan frontman caught up in the celebrity sex tape scandal.
Police, the AGO and the KPK have all claimed to have run into difficulties in uncovering irregularities in the bailout.
"We have more than enough evidence to prove criminal action in the bailout," Bambang said, adding that lawmakers were ready to conduct a joint investigation with the law-enforcement officers.
Lily Wahid, a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB) who was also a vocal advocates of the probe, said that when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defended the bailout in a nationally televised speech, she knew the case would be quietly shelved. "It was like a direct order to the law enforcers to stop the investigation," she said.
Akbar Faisal, a lawmaker from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and a member of the initial probe team, said the responsibility to ensure the case moved forward rested with the House speaker and his deputies, who should be monitoring the investigation. "It seems like [House leaders] no longer have the will to solve the Bank Century case," he said.
Akbar also questioned the commitment of the larger political parties to see the case through.
The push for an investigation received aggressive support not only from opposition parties but also from key pro-government coalition members such as Golkar and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). "Just ask [the large parties] where they want the case to go," he said.
Yunarto Wijaya, an analyst from Charta Politicka, said "the Bank Century scandal waned because it was politically designed to be like that."
He said that from the beginning, Bank Century had been more of a political case than a legal one, since the effort to seek a resolution began in the legislature.
Yunarto said the case was simply used as a way to score political goals, with Golkar as the main driver. In this case, he said, Golkar wanted to oust Sri Mulyani in relation to her long-running tax-related dispute with party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.
Sri Mulyani resigned in May to assume a position as the managing director of the World Bank in Washington, DC, with analysts hinting that Golkar was the reason behind her exit.
"When Golkar already has what it wants, they stop their attack," Yunarto said, adding that there were clear indications that the party had toned down its rhetoric after Sri Mulyani was gone.
With Golkar no longer on the attack, other parties were unable to maintain a formidable front in the case, he said.
The PKB's Lily said that the only parties that had remained consistent in their criticism of the case were PDI-P, Hanura and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), which are all in the opposition.
Yunarto said that it was crucial for law-enforcement agencies to conclude their investigation soon.
"It would prove whether [Sri Mulyani and Boediono] were actually guilty, and if they were not, it would show that there were other actors behind the scenes," he said.