Anita Rachman & Dessy Sagita – In the latest twist in a tiff between the House of Representatives' Budget Committee and the Corruption Eradication Commission, the antigraft body has turned down an invitation to meet with the lawmakers.
Johan Budi, a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman, said the antigraft body was unable to appear at the legislature today. He added that he hoped the House committee understood.
"We are conducting an investigation and we are questioning four lawmakers who happen to be the leaders of the Budget Committee, therefore we cannot attend the meeting," he told the Jakarta Globe.
Johan said the KPK did not intend this as a snub, but was simply trying to be professional. He quickly added that the KPK was "not mad at or afraid of lawmakers at the House."
Members of the House Budget Committee have been boycotting meetings and discussions on the 2012 state budget since shortly after the KPK questioned four of its leaders.
These were the committee chairman, Melchias Marcus Mekeng, from the Golkar Party, and his deputies, Mirwan Amir, from the Democratic Party, Olly Dondokambey, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Tamsil Linrung, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
The KPK issued another summons to Olly and Tamsil to appear for questioning on Wednesday, which they ignored, saying they wanted a meeting first with the KPK at the House.
The lawmakers were questioned about allegations of irregularities in budget discussions and allocations.
House leaders were planning a meeting with the KPK, the head of the National Police and the Attorney General's Office to clear the air between them.
Priyo Budi Santoso, a House deputy speaker from Golkar, asked why the KPK was only questioning lawmakers, and not the ministers implicated in the bid-rigging scandals.
House Speaker Marzuki Alie, from the Democrats, declined to comment but said a meeting would be called today to discuss the matter.
Bambang Soesatyo, Golkar's deputy treasurer and a member of the Budget Committee, said "the relationship between the two bodies is getting complicated."
He said if members of the KPK could not put their egos aside, the committee may continue to stall discussions of next year's budget. "If people called lawmakers childish for boycotting discussions, it is now fair to call the KPK the same thing since they are refusing to come," he said.
Bambang, however, said the House would not resort to anything as drastic as slashing the KPK's budget because of the tiff. The House approves the KPK's annual budget.
Johan told the Globe that while the House had the authority to decide on the antigraft body's budget, it should not be linked to the current investigation.
Ronald Rofiandri, from the nongovernmental Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), said the meeting at the House could lead to other things, including the silencing of graft cases implicating Budget Committee members.