Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – A Palembang businessman who is said to have played a key role in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's political career and who has now been dragged into a corruption case could be the President's Achilles heel, a political analyst says.
The businessman, identified as Sengman Tjahja, is alleged to be involved in the beef import graft case, which has implicated political bigwigs from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the nation's largest Islamic party that is widely seen as a pebble in the shoe of the coalition government.
The revelation of his alleged involvement in the graft scandal is sparking speculation that it could have been the reason why Yudhoyono was reluctant to get tough with the PKS, despite the party having repeatedly undermined his policies and sided with the opposition in many political battles at the House of Representatives.
"This is a case of the government being steered by people outside of the government, which is unhealthy," Agus Herta Sumarto, a researcher at the Political Research Institute of Democracy Indonesia (PRIDE Indonesia), told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
The PKS has survived numerous attempts by its political rivals to get it kicked out of the ruling coalition for its many acts of defiance, the latest of which was its attempt to block the government's policy to raise fuel prices.
Despite the squabbling, the Islamic party managed to keep its politicians within Yudhoyono's Cabinet, including Agriculture Minister Suswono, whom observers say should be dismissed in the wake of beef graft case. The President's inaction led to speculation that the PKS might have a trump card up its sleeve that could be used against him, Agus said.
"Some [PKS] ministers should have been fired, but that did not happen. Therefore, there is a big question mark," he said. He added that Sengman could be that trump card, though such conjecture would be hard to prove.
Sengman's role in the beef graft case was revealed in a wiretapped phone conversation between Ridwan Hakim, the son of PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin, and the main suspect in the case, Ahmad Fathanah. During the conversation, which was played at a trial session on Thursday, Fathanah told Ridwan that Rp 40 billion (US$3.6 million) in kickbacks had been delivered by Sengman and his friend, Hendra.
It is suspected that the money was a bribe by meat-import company PT Indoguna Utama to the PKS to exert its influence over Agriculture Minister Suswono, who is also a member of the PKS' religious council, to increase the beef import quota. Ridwan told the judges that Sengman was an "envoy" from Yudhoyono to the PKS.
The State Palace and Democratic Party officials have denied Ridwan's allegation, saying that the President had no "envoy" named Sengman and that whatever he (Sengman) had done, had nothing to do with the head of state.
House of Representatives' Speaker Marzuki Alie, who is also a deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, argued that Ridwan's allegation was ridiculous. "Why would the President send an envoy to be a broker for the beef import quota?" he told the Post on Saturday. "This is just a case of someone using the President's name."
Responding to the suspicion that Yudhoyono was powerless against the PKS because of Sengman, Marzuki said it was merely a rumor spun by people who wanted to undermine the President. He added that Yudhoyono had not fired the ministers from the PKS because he was too kind to do such a thing. "He likes to give second chances," Marzuki said.
The House speaker also dismissed a claim made by former finance minister Rizal Ramli that Sengman had helped Yudhoyono in the early days of his political career. The President, Marzuki said, was nobody on the political stage when he ran for office in 2004. "Who would have helped him if he was not a household name [in politics]?" he asked.
Rizal was quoted by kompas.com as saying, "Sengman is a businessman who first made a donation to Yudhoyono to help him enter politics. So, [they are] very close."