Rizky Amelia – Anti-graft activists have urged legislator Wa Ode Nurhayati to start spill the beans on her colleagues and officials involved in rigging state budget allocations, now that she herself has been named a suspect.
Speaking at a discussion on Saturday, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst with the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said the probe into the allocation process for the Accelerated Fund for Regional Infrastructure Development (DPPID) should not stop at just Wa Ode.
"If it's just Wa Ode who is investigated, then it's a blow not just against her, but also against the public," he said.
He likened the National Mandate Party (PAN) legislator to a "supporting actor" in a film, and said she should cooperate with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to unveil the "lead actors and director." "The KPK must get to the key players through the supporting actor," he said.
Zainal Arifin Mochtar, director of the Gadjah Mada University Anticorruption Study Center (Pukat UGM), also echoed the call for Wa Ode to blow the whistle on the case and identify other legislators on the House of Representatives' Budget Committee involved in budget-fixing.
"I truly hope Wa Ode cooperates with the KPK, working as a sort of justice collaborator," Zainal said. "Indeed, the justice minister has promised to go easy on those who collaborate in this way."
Wa Ode, who was named a suspect by the KPK earlier this month for allegedly taking at least Rp 6 billion ($666,000) in bribes to approve funding for projects in three districts in Aceh, insisted at the discussion that she was clean and that the case against her was groundless. "I'll prove that I'm innocent," she said.
She also said the conspiracy against her centered on claims made by Haris Surahman, previously identified as a businessman but whom Wa Ode said was an aide to a Golkar Party official. She declined to name the official.
Haris reported Wa Ode to the House Budget Committee after she allegedly took Rp 6.9 billion from him in exchange for ensuring that he would be awarded lucrative contracts totaling Rp 40 billion from the DPPID. He claimed that after he failed to get any contracts, he demanded the return of the money, but she gave back only Rp 4 billion.
"My question is, why was Haris given the privilege to report me to the Budget Committee?" Wa Ode said, adding that the proper procedure would be to complain to the House Ethics Council.
"When he started talking about regional projects, that's when I knew he was nothing more than a broker. For me, the drama in this whole case has been apparent from the start. The authorities should arrest Haris to confirm whether I really took anything."