Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Recently revealed letters indicate that Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam may have had an ulterior motive in flagging alleged collusion between the House of Representatives and the Defense Ministry, an opposition legislator says.
Tubagus Hasanuddin, the deputy chairman of House Commission I, overseeing defense and foreign affairs, said on Friday that through his letters to Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, Dipo intervened to scrap Rp 678 billion ($71 million) in funding for the Navy.
"It appears that the funding plan had prompted complaints from one of the other branches of the armed forces," said Tubagus, a veteran Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician. "They were saying, 'How come the Navy gets this funding and we don't?' "
In the first of the two letters, dated July 24 of this year, Dipo asked Purnomo to reconsider the urgency of allocating the funds proposed by the Finance Ministry to buy encryption devices, diving gear and other equipment for the Navy.
He wrote that it would be better to allocate the money toward the military's Rp 34 trillion shortfall for modernizing its main weapons systems.
He also claimed that the funding, if approved by the House, would be prone to mark-ups, embezzlement and other forms of corruption, adding that there had already been a complaint from the public about the funding plan.
In a similar letter dated Aug. 6, Dipo shared similar concerns with Agus about the funds. As a result, Agus issued a letter to the House on Sept. 25 in which he scrapped the Rp 678 billion fund for the Navy, despite the House being on track to approve the allocation in the 2013 state budget.
Tubagus said that Dipo's graft concerns, which led to his reporting the Defense Ministry to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in early November for alleged collusion with legislators, were unfounded and illogical.
He pointed out that the House's role was simply to approve the funding, and that if there were mark-ups and other manipulations, they could only occur during the bidding process carried out by the government.
Tubagus also said that it was impossible for the money to be embezzled since it had not even been allocated yet. "We were shocked when the Finance Ministry scrapped the funding," said Tubagus, a former two-star Army general. "At the time, we wondered why."
"The answer, it turns out, is because one of the other branches of the armed forces didn't get a cut. So why Dipo would cite mark-ups [at the House] as his concern is a mystery."
Ramadhan Pohan, another House Commission deputy chairman, also said he was perplexed as to why Dipo had played the corruption card. "I personally don't know, but since it's in Dipo's letter, you should ask Dipo," he said.
Ramadhan, from the ruling Democratic Party, also urged the Finance Ministry to repeal its decision to withhold the funding for the Navy and proceed with its initial plan, arguing that it was important to make every effort to boost the quality of the armed forces.
The Defense Ministry was one of three, along with the Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry, that Dipo recently reported to the KPK in connection with allegations that ministry officials were colluding with legislators on getting their funding proposals approved ahead of the finalization of next year's state budget.
On Monday, the cabinet secretary claimed that similar practices also took place in other ministries. He added that his aim was not to target the ministers, but to spur the ministries themselves into cleaning house.