Ronna Nirmala – The long wait for fugitive politician and former ruling party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin ended at 8 p.m. Saturday evening when the chartered jet the government provided to ferry him home touched down at Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah Airport after a day of uncertainty over when he would arrive.
The Gulfstream jet, No. N913PD, landed and nine people wearing masks and carrying backpacks emerged from the plane first. Nazaruddin, wearing a brown suit and no mask, was not handcuffed and could be seen clearly as he deplaned. He appeared to have put on weight since he fled the country in late May.
A woman was also among about 15 people on the plane and she is assumed to be Nazaruddin's wife, Neneng Sriwahyuni. A National Police spokesman said three people were apprehended with Nazaruddin and returned to Indonesia, his wife, an Indonesian named Rahmat Nasir, and a Singaporean, Eng Kian Lim.
After landing, Nazaruddin was taken to the Brimob detention center in Depok, for what reports described as a medical examination. He was then brought to the offices of the Counter Corruption Commission (KPK) in Jakarta.
One man at the KPK building shouted, "Don't be afraid, Nazaruddin. Allah is with you." The detainee only smiled in response.
Nazaruddin left Bogota, Colombia early Friday morning, Jakarta time. It is unclear why the flight took so long. He was arrested by Interpol on Sunday in Cartagena, Colombia after being on the run in Southeast Asia, the US and South America.
Throngs of reporters waited at the East Jakarta airport beginning early Saturday, following reports that Nazaruddin would arrive at 5.a.m.
National Police spokesman Untung Yoga Ana said earlier that the chartered jet had touched down twice en route to Jakarta, once in Nairobi, Kenya and again in the Maldives.
Untung said Nazaruddin's wife was with him on the plane. After he is picked up by a joint team from the Foreign Ministry, Justice and Human Rights Ministry, the National Police and the KPK, he will be taken into police detention, Untung said.
East Jakarta Police Comr. Gen. Saidal Mursalin said several hundred police officers have been deployed around Halim airport to secure the area, although there was little sign of beefed up security inside the airport itself.
Meanwhile, there has been widespread concern that somehow the explosive accusations Nazaruddin has made against Democratic Party officials will be muted or hushed up once he is in front of a corruption court.
"Openness is the answer to the public's suspicion that there is the potential for intervention (into Nazaruddin's case)," Hendardi, chairman of the SETARA Institute, said Saturday, according to Antara.
After hiding for about 75 days on three continents, Nazaruddin was arrested in Cartagena, a resort town about 600 km from Bogota last Sunday. Nazaruddin fled to Singapore in May just ahead of a travel ban requested by the KPK.
Nazaruddin has been named a suspect in an ongoing KPK investigation into the construction of the athlete's village for the Southeast Asian Games, which are to be held in Palembang, South Sumatra in November.
During his sojourn abroad, he issued numerous statements implicating various officials, including Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, in financial irregularities related to the SEA Games.
As the treasurer of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's political party before he was implicated in the current scandal, Nazaruddin's accusations that state funds were diverted to fund the party touches a raw nerve that could prove deeply damaging for the Democrats ahead of 2014 elections.
Responding to fears that Nazaruddin would harmed or silenced, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on police to protect the suspect. "I want to remind the Police chief, please ensure his safety because there might be people who feel uncomfortable with his return to Indonesia," Yudhoyono said after Sunday's arrest.
Hendardi said Nazaruddin trial needs to be transparent to allay public suspsicions. "The public needs to closely watch the movements of parties suspected to have the potential to influence Nazaruddin's testimonies," the SETARA Institute chairman said.
The case has also tarnished the image of the KPK itself. Political observer Yudi Latief of Paramadina University in Jakarta said that the KPK needs special supervision when trying Nazaruddin.
A newly formed KPK Ethics Council is now investigating two KPK commissioners, Ade Raharja and Chandra M Hamzah, after Nazaruddin accused them of trying to strike a deal with him in a meeting. "I think the most worrying fact is that the KPK is now suffering. Internal relations within the KPK itself are not that good," Yudi said.
He said that the KPK needs to deal with the Nazaruddin case immediately and disclose any internal KPK corruption. "This would provide an extraordinary lesson to people in the political circle," Yudi said.
The case is also made more difficult since the KPK is in the midst of a search for a new leadershhip team. The Nazaruddin allegations have clouded that process as well.
Bambang Widjojanto, a candidate to lead the KPK, has said the Nazaruddin case should be handled by a joint team of experts drawn from the KPK, police and prosecutor's office.
[With reporting from Antara.]