Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Local and international pressure mounted on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday as the palace-appointed Team of Eight wrapped up its investigation and prepared final recommendations over the Corruption Eradication Commission scandal that has riveted the nation.
The nation's largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, both said that Yudhoyono needed to step in and take firm action.
"The [case] is abnormal and thus the procedures that need to be taken to deal with it should not be normal ones," said NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, referring to Yudhoyono's statement that he would not intervene in the case.
The scandal has wreaked havoc on the relationship between the antigraft agency, known as the KPK, and the National Police and Attorney General's Office, while becoming a daily source of headlines, gossip and public anger.
In an address televised on Oct. 30, Yudhoyono said if he interfered in the case, the justice system "will be ripped apart." He said the legal process had to be allowed to run its course.
The controversy over charges against two KPK deputy commissioners for abuse of power and extortion has led to accusations the police were involved in a complex plot to undermine the popular anticorruption body.
The leader of NU, which claims 40 million members, said Yudhoyono must take immediate action before the issue worsened and public anger spilled over into the streets.
"This is not a question of intervention or non-intervention. It is about the responsibility of the president as head of state," Hasyim said.
Separately, Syafi'i Ma'arif, a former chairman of the 29 million-strong Muhammadiyah, said Yudhoyono must not allow the situation to get out of control.
"He must take command. If he does not want to involve himself directly, he could order his ministers to do it. It's very important for him not to ignore this case," Syafi'i said.
The controversy has also reached the editorial pages of the influential Wall Street Journal, the newspaper with the largest US circulation, which wrote on Friday that Yudhoyono's silence in the drama was "dangerous."
The outcome of the issue, the newspaper said, would "say much about the country's future." It said Yudhoyono's failure to strongly support the KPK was puzzling, especially in the face of the strong public reaction in favor of the antigraft commission.
The Journal noted that Yudhoyono had not reprimanded law enforcement officials caught on tape apparently plotting against the KPK when they resigned last week. "He gave a speech last Thursday promising to eradicate the 'legal mafia,' but did not say how he would do so," it added.
"The president's reticence is dangerous," the Journal wrote. The KPK "needs both public support and the president's to ensure its continued survival."
Denny Indrayana, the Team of Eight's secretary and a presidential adviser on legal affairs, said the body appointed by the president to look into the controversy was finalizing its report.
He refused to reveal the team's recommendations, but said it would pay special attention to the issue of the "legal mafia and case brokers" in the report.
"The bugged conversation of Anggodo gives a clear indication of the existence of a legal mafia," Denny said, in reference to wiretapped conversations played at a recent Constitutional Court hearing involving Anggodo Widjojo, whose brother is a fugitive from a KPK corruption investigation.