Bagus BT Saragih and Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – For politician and former lawyer Amir Syamsuddin, the job of weeding out corrupt politicians in the ruling Democratic Party turned out to be a real can of worms.
The party's chief patron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, unexpectedly replaced Amir with TB Silalahi as the party's ethics council secretary, tasked with ensuring members steered clear of corruption or other unethical acts.
"The decision was made on Tuesday by Pak Yudhoyono, who also serves as the head of the council," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik, who is also one the party's five council members, said on Wednesday.
Yudhoyono's decision was made after Amir, the law and human rights minister, signed a letter to discharge legislator Angelina Sondakh from her post as the party's deputy secretary-general after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently declared her a suspect in a graft case.
Under the party's code of ethics, a member who is declared a suspect can be automatically removed from the party's structure. But somehow, that rule has not been applied to Angelina.
"Angelina is still at her post as we're still waiting for the ethics council's decision," said Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who is another member of the ethics council and a friend of Angelina.
Amir's dismissal opens up another chapter of infighting within the party, centering on the allegation that Anas is implicated in a graft case involving former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who is standing trial over alleged corruption in the construction of a SEA Games' facility in Palembang, South Sumatra.
Nazaruddin's case has also dragged down Angelina, who allegedly sent illicit money to Anas.
Despite mounting calls for Anas' removal by senior Democratic Party politicians, including Amir and Jero, Yudhoyono recently confirmed his stance was to keep Anas in the top job unless the KPK declared him a suspect.
But Amir, who has now become a member of the party's board of patrons, denied that his departure was linked to infighting or his letter to Angelina.
"There's no political motive behind my resignation. I want to focus more on my job as a minister," said Amir, who was installed as a minister in October, replacing National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Patrialis Akbar.
Amir is among a group of politicians battling to salvage the party's declining popularity by urging Yudhoyono to immediately root out corrupt officials ahead of the 2014 general election.
But, instead of leading the clean-up of his party and repairing the party's tarnished image himself, Yudhoyono is passing the job to Silalahi, 73, whom analysts describe as a controversial figure.
Silalahi used to be Yudhoyono's patron when he served in the military and is known to have close ties with businessman Tomy Winata, whose business entity Bank Artha Graha is implicated in a vote-buying scandal over the election of Miranda Goeltom as a senior deputy central bank governor in 2004. The KPK recently declared Miranda a suspect in the case.
Last year, a 2006-dated US diplomatic wire published by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, said that Silalahi "served as an intermediary, who delivered funds from Tomy to Yudhoyono".
Silalahi was implicated in a graft case in 2007 in which he allegedly received houses as payoffs by businessman Henry Leo, who is now serving a six-year jail sentence for embezzling Rp 410 billion from military pension funds. Silalahi has repeatedly denied the allegation.