Febriamy Hutapea – Most of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono's coalition partners lined up against him on Monday, with seven out of nine factions on a House of Representatives special committee stating in a preliminary report that the government's bailout of Bank Century was illegal and beset by corruption.
"There are indications of corruption, state losses, abuse of power and breaches of the law," Asman Abnur of the National Mandate Party (PAN), a member of the special committee, said while reading his party's preliminary conclusions on the investigation.
PAN, a member of Yudhoyono's ruling coalition, was not alone in breaking ranks and declaring that the bailout may have been illegal. The Golkar Party, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and United Development Party (PPP) all said they firmly opposed the government's bailout decision and agreed that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should further investigate the Bank Century case.
They were joined by opposition parties the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura).
Only committee members from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and coalition partner the National Awakening Party (PKB) stated that the decision to bail out the bank was correct and necessary to prevent a systemic threat to the domestic banking industry at the height of the global financial crisis in November 2008.
The special committee is scheduled to issue its final conclusions on Monday.
It is unclear what will happen next. Some lawmakers have threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Yudhoyono or Vice President Boediono, the central bank chief at the time of the bailout.
There is also speculation that Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who also played a central role in the bailout, will be forced to resign as part of a political settlement to the case.
Democratic Party officials have called on Yudhoyono to reshuffle the cabinet to remove dissident coalition partners, including Golkar members. During Monday's meeting of the special committee, which was broadcast live on nationwide television, the seven parties said they found irregularities even before Bank Century was created by a merger of three troubled smaller banks in 2004.
Many lawmakers said the irregularities continued up until the bailout and that the subsequent alleged violations could include banking crimes, money laundering and corruption.
"There is a strong indication of legal violations that caused the nation to suffer huge losses," said Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa, a Golkar lawmaker.
Yudhoyono has insisted the bailout was legal and necessary and has claimed that shadowy political forces are concocting a criminal case in an attempt to topple him, just months after he was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term.
In their preliminary conclusions, the Democratic and PKB members of the special committee said the bailout was conducted legally, but acknowledged that Bank Indonesia was not prudent in monitoring the merger that created Bank Century.
Both parties also supported the central bank's decision to waive the capital-adequacy ratio requirement to make Bank Century eligible for the bailout.
Senior Democrat official Anas Urbaningrum said that Monday's assessments were "just a preliminary view" and expressed optimism about the special committee's final conclusions next week.
Political observer Arbi Sanit said he expected intense political lobbying among the Democrats and other parties in the coming days to water down or even alter the final conclusions.