Armando Siahaan – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should consider himself a lucky man. Just as an article filled with serious accusations about his alleged abuse of power started to engross the nation, a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, deflecting attention away from what may turn out to be one of the biggest political scandals ever to hit the country.
Please note that it is not my intention to play down the catastrophe in Japan. But it is imperative that we do not turn a blind eye to a political disaster on our own soil involving the country's number one man.
On Friday morning, the nation woke up to an article published by Australian newspaper The Age titled, "Yudhoyono 'abused power,' " which was quickly picked up by media outlets here.
Citing cables from the US Embassy in Jakarta released by WikiLeaks as its main source, the article in The Age listed a number of alleged abuses involving Yudhoyono and several other prominent government officials.
The alleged wrongdoings ranged from Yudhoyono and his family trying to "profit financially from its political position," to the president's intervention in the case of Taufik Kiemas, husband of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), to prevent Taufik from being prosecuted for "legendary corruption during his wife's tenure."
Yudhoyono was also accused of meddling in legal proceedings involving a rift within former President Gus Dur's National Awakening Party (PKB), as well as exploiting the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to spy on his political rivals and at least one senior minister.
These are such serious allegations that if there is a kernel of truth to any of them, a premature ending to Yudhoyono's second term is not a far-fetched scenario.
It would be wrong to immediately conclude that all of the information revealed in the article is true. It is raw, unsubstantiated information that requires further verification by a courageous third party willing to pursue the truth behind the claims.
Will the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), for example, take any interest in investigating the Yudhoyono-Taufik Kiemas allegation?
Conversely, there is also a possibility that the claims are completely bogus. If that is the case, the State Palace needs to counter the allegations comprehensively, with facts and evidence instead of bluster and wall-to-wall denials.
The administration's response up to this point – lambasting the article as "not true, inaccurate and recklessly written," sending a message of protest to the US government and writing a response to The Age – is simply not enough.
Their furious denials sound hollow without any information to back them up, and the public can hardly be blamed for not giving the government the benefit of the doubt when it comes to accusations of corruption.
Considering the grave magnitude of these accusations, a failure to deal with them properly could very well lead to a credibility crisis for Yudhoyono.
It should be noted that his administration had already been struggling to cope with several recent political blows that have hurt his legitimacy.
There was the movement launched by a band of religious leaders, including Din Syamsuddin, Benny Susetyo and Andreas Yewangoe, that publicly denounced Yudhoyono's administration for telling "lies" to the people regarding poverty levels, as well as the government's failure to resolve high-profile corruption cases including the Bank Century scandal and the Gayus Tambunan debacle, and the rampant discrimination against religious minority groups.
The president also faced hostility from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which publicly declared its readiness to take down the government in response to Yudhoyono's speech that implied the possibility of disbanding violent organizations such as their group.
On top of that, Yudhoyono has had to do some serious damage control to deal with his crumbling ruling coalition after two of his supposed coalition partners – the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – both supported a House of Representatives' probe into corruption at the tax office, leading to the current reshuffle kerfuffle.
But while the president is already treading water politically, this WikiLeaks imbroglio could have much more serious consequences for him, politically as well as legally. Proven or not, the allegations have certainly tarnished the president's credibility in front of his people.
President Yudhoyono must prove to the public, with concrete and credible evidence, that none of the accusations are true. An independent investigation is one option, albeit a near impossible one.
Still, Yudhoyono needs to come up with some way to show us that he is indeed trustworthy, or risk endangering his entire political legacy. Whatever happens, the story should not end at this point.
[Armando Siahaan is a reporter at the Jakarta Globe and writes a weekly column about current events. Follow @jakartajourno on Twitter or e-mail him at armando.siahaan@thejakartaglobe.com.]