Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The move by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to retain two ministers implicated in a major corruption case drew mixed reactions from political analysts here Tuesday.
Syamsudin Harris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences said Yudhoyono should have taken firm action by firing State Minister of National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta and Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Ka'ban without waiting for a court verdict.
"This is more about a political issue that can be separated from a legal process. The legal process is the concern of the court, but the President can actually initiate a political step (without waiting for the due process of law)," Syamsudin said.
"The point is whether the President still trusts Paskah and Ka'ban because politics is about trust. And unfortunately, he still trusts them."
Yudhoyono decided Monday to take no action against the ministers until a court had proved their involvement in the alleged misuse of Rp 100 billion from Bank Indonesia.
The decision came after Yudhoyono questioned both Paskah and Ka'ban during an hour-long meeting at the presidential office to get clarification about their connection to the case.
Yudhoyono promised to suspend Paskah and Ka'ban as Cabinet ministers if they stood trial for graft and to dismiss them if a court found them guilty.
Syamsudin criticized Yudhoyono for being "inconsistent", as last year he replaced then justice and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin and state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra amid controversy over their involvement in helping the son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo Mandala Putra, reclaim money from London-based BNP Paribas.
"In fact, Hamid and Yusril had not been found guilty in the case. The President should have done the same thing (to Paskah and Ka'ban)," Syamsudin said.
He said the President might have been pressured to be lenient, given that Paskah is a member of the country's largest political party, Golkar, and Ka'ban is former chairman of the Crescent Star Party, one of the coalition parties supporting Yudhoyono's government.
"The action he takes is a politically safe action but it is neglecting the public interest," Syamsudin said.
However, Indra J. Piliang, a political expert from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, expressed a contradictory view, saying it was the President's prerogative to fire or retain the two ministers.
"The thing is that the President should take immediate action for the sake of maintaining his government's stability during his remaining months in office. In this case, Yudhoyono's leadership is at stake," he said.
"I think the President cannot just replace his ministers right away without more evidence from the court. He should respect the principle of the presumption of innocence."
Indra did not comment on similarities between the Hamid-Yusril case and the Paskah-Ka'ban case, simply saying "the government has been weak since Yusril left the Cabinet".
"Look what happened to the Cabinet after Yusril was dismissed," he said. "It became paralyzed and lost the courage to face the House of Representatives. That was what happened when Yudhoyono ousted his best man."